OVERVIEW
Despite heightened interest in the potential benefits and side effects of cannabis, how memory and sleep problems may interact as a result of cannabis use remains unknown.Groundbreaking new research aims to help fill this gap by testing how sleep impacts memory among cannabis users. Led by Francesca Filbey, PhD, from the Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Reward Dynamics at UT Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth, in collaboration with a team from the University of Amsterdam, the study aims to determine whether sleep quality mediates the association between cannabis use and memory and whether sex moderated these effects.Participants included chronic cannabis users and non-users who self-reported frequency of sleep problems within the past week and completed a variety of cognitive assessments that tested verbal memory, visuospatial learning and memory performance. Results show cannabis users reported more sleep problems, correlated with more visuospatial memory problems as well.“”
“Although sleep is one of the primary reasons people use cannabis, our findings suggest that long-term cannabis use actually results in poorer sleep, which is associated with poorer memory. These findings are useful to inform the consumers, clinicians and policymakers about the therapeutic considerations for cannabis, particularly regarding its use as a sleep aid. For researchers, this study points to the importance of analyzing sleep when evaluating the effects of cannabis on brain health.”
– Tracy Brown, lab member, lead author and psychology PhD student at UT Dallas
The study, “The Role of Sleep in the Link Between Cannabis Use and Memory Function: Evidence From a Cross-Sectional Study” was recently published inThe American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, with research supported by grant 1R01 DA042490 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institute of Health.
Figure 1. Sleep problems mediate the relationship between cannabis use disorder (CUD) and Short Visual Object Learning Task (sVOLT) efficiency scores. Dotted lines indicate no significant effect while solid lines indicate significant effects. The unstandardized effects are noted with (a) and (b) while the standardized effects are noted with (β). *p < .05; **p < .01. Figure created with Biorender.com.
