I was not looking forward to writing this, in part, due to my love-hate relationship with cannabinoids: on one hand, they show potential in many difficult-to-treat conditions; on the other hand, some psychiatric risks and this (CB receptor activation is diabetogenic).
Further, don’t underestimate the complexity of cannabis plants and the endocannabinoid signaling system.
The cannabinoids (Babson et al., 2017):
-THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis (also in drug form as Nabilone)
-CBD, a non-psychoactive component of cannabis
-Dronabinol, a highly purified synthetic (-)-trans-D9-THC. It’s actually 2-3x weaker than Nabilone (which is a further testament to the complexity of this system, imo).
Nabiximols (Sativex), a roughly 1:1 combination of THC & CBD.
To be clear, the main therapeutic use of cannabinoids is anti-emetic (prevents vomiting) & appetite-stimulation in some conditions (eg, cancer, HIV). The more interesting part, imo, is some of the human studies (discussed below) on people with difficult-to-treat conditions, who also sleep poorly, where any improvement in sleep quality inevitably improves their condition.
This article is specifically on sleep. I’ll do follow-ups on anxiety and maybe inflammation if you’re interested. Let me know!
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