Australian scientists have shown that sedative substances from hemp are indeed effective in inducing sleep. In their study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, they used an objective measure of sleep to showed for the first time that cannabinol or CBN improves sleep.
“For decades, cannabis users have suggested that the drug causes drowsiness through the accumulation of CBN, but there has been no conclusive evidence for this,” he said. lead study author Jonathan Arnold from the University of Sydney.
“Our study provides the first objective evidence that CBN prolongs and deepens sleep. At least in rats,” added Professor Arnold, saying that he performed the tests on the aforementioned laboratory animals. CBN is the end product of the main psychotropic substance from hemp, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. THC breaks down over time and turns into CBN, with older cannabis containing higher levels of this compound.
The older drug is often referred to as sleepy weed among users. “We found that CBN increases both REM and non-REM sleep, leading to an increase in total sleep time, with a comparable effect to the well-known sleep medication zolpidem,” Professor Arnold explained. During the REM phase, dreams appear to a person. But more important is the deep phase of sleep, during which one does not dream (nonREM).
