Sleep is an important aspect of a young adult’s health, especially those participating in secondary education at a university or college. Marijuana use and popularity is also on the rise among the young adult population across the United States. As the popularity of marijuana continues to rise, there is thought that young adults are using it as a sleep aide. This study looks at those young adults who are using marijuana as a sleep aide, how frequently they are using it, problematic use of it, and sleep problems in general among young adults.
To complete the study, the researchers used a sample of college students. To qualify, the students had to endorse marijuana use in the past year. There were 354 college students that participated with 68% of them being female. The students were asked questions and a multiple regression statistical analysis was created. This allowed the researchers to look at the multiple independent variable and how they related to marijuana use. This answered questions about marijuana use outcomes, sleep problems, and if the sleep problems predicted marijuana use outcomes. What the researchers found was that when the students were using marijuana for sleep, it predicted increased overall use as well as more problematic use.
Another interesting finding was that using marijuana for sleep was related to worse sleep efficiency. So, this means those who used marijuana to sleep, were actually worse off than those who did not use marijuana to help them sleep. One more finding was that daytime dysfunction related to sleepiness had a correlation with marijuana use and problematic use. The data showed the results were the same across sex and race. These results provide important information that can be used to educate young adults about the possible misconceptions between marijuana and improved sleep.
Take Away: Sleep is an important part of college students overall health. With the growing popularity of marijuana use, there is thought that these students may be using marijuana as a sleep aid. This study looked at 354 college student’s habits surrounding marijuana use as a sleep aid, problematic use, and sleep problems. What they found was those using marijuana as a sleep aid had increased overall use including problematic use. They also found that those using it for sleep actually had worse sleep efficacy. Students should be educated about this potential misconception around marijuana use and improved sleep.