Key Takeaways:
- Most evidence on CBN and sleep come from studies conducted in the 70s and 80s, and any sleep-promoting effects they found were likely related to THC.
- Modern studies do suggest some benefit of CBN on sleep, but many of these use combinations of cannabinoids and results tend to be inconsistent.
- Overall, while there are some signs CBN helps with sleep, at present it is more marketing than science.
Decades of being maligned as a “dangerous drug” has led to huge gaps in official knowledge of cannabis, but users filled these gaps with received wisdom and a kind of “stoner lore.”
Part of this lore is that old cannabis – where some THC has degraded to cannabinol (CBN) – makes you sleepy.
This has taken on a life of its own in the age of the Farm Bill, with most “sleep” formulations of hemp products including CBN with the aim of boosting their sleep-promoting effects.
But does this “stoner lore” hold up to scrutiny? What does the data say? We looked at the evidence and spoke to a world-renowned cannabis researcher to find out.
Does CBN Really Help You Sleep? A Look at the Evidence
We spoke to Dr. Ethan Russo, widely-published cannabis researcher and founder/CEO of CReDO Science, and asked him about cannabinoids helping with sleep. His response inspired this post, because he noted:
It is essential to address the issue of cannabinol (CBN). Despite popular misconception and its inclusion in almost every company’s sleep formulation, there is no substantiation for the efficacy of CBN in sleep. This was thoroughly debunked by Corroon. There has been one subsequent study showing minimal benefit at one dose of CBN, but this was not a pure product either.
The paper by Coroon runs through the evidence up until 2021, although most studies were conducted in the 70s and 80s.
Generally speaking, any of these studies which found an effect related to sleep (for example, feeling drowsy or sleepy) were tests of mixtures also containing THC.
From this evidence, Coroon concluded:
“Individuals seeking cannabis-derived sleep aids should be skeptical of manufacturers’ claims of sleep-promoting effects.”
Does Research Published in the Past Few Years Prove CBN Helps with Sleep?
But, you might wonder, Coroon’s paper was published in 2021 and mainly covered very old studies – doesn’t anything more recent prove that CBN helps with sleep?
The short answer is: not really, but some results are intriguing.
One widely-reported study looked at the effects of CBN on sleep in rats.
- This found an increase in total sleep time, both non-REM and REM sleep, which the authors said was comparable to the sleep aid zolpidem, except without negative impacts on REM.
- However, as with any animal study it’s important to keep in mind that any effects in humans are not perfectly predicted by the effects in animals – we are not huge rats.
One study from Dr. Jen Walsh and colleagues looked at the sleep-promoting effects of a THC:CBN:CBD mixture in humans, and found positive effects.
- However, as Dr. Walsh pointed out to us in a short interview about her research, this can’t be used to draw any conclusions about individual components.
- Likewise, another study looked at a combination of THC and CBN, and despite positive effects, suffers the same issue when it comes to drawing conclusions about CBN.
One of the most recent studies on this topic (full text here) was published in 2023.
- Although it found no significant difference between placebo and CBN on sleep quality, waking after sleep onset and daytime fatigue, the results did suggest reduced nighttime awakenings and less overall sleep disturbance after taking 20 mg CBN.
Finally, a 2024 study compared three different doses of CBN (25, 50 and 100 mg) with 4 mg melatonin and placebo for improving sleep.
- This study did detect some effects of CBN compared to placebo over time, with a greater reduction in sleep disturbance in the CBN (and melatonin) groups.
- However, there were no significant differences when it came to minimum clinically important difference, which is a crude measure of whether something will make a difference relevant to a patient (as opposed to just statistically significant).
These last two results and the rat study suggest that something may be going on here, but they certainly aren’t convincing.
Looking at the graph of the effect from the 2024 research makes the issue clear – yes, CBN seemed to help, but the margins of error of the results for CBN and the placebo still overlap in most cases.
So it’s certainly possible that CBN helps, but there’s a lot of uncertainty underpinning any recommendation.
CBN Is More Marketing Than Science
Overall, recent results do suggest that CBN could help with sleep, but the evidence falls far short of the marketing claims around CBN.
This is especially obvious because such claims were made before the more promising results in the past few years – CBN is being sold based on its reputation, not based on science.
It could be that future studies confirm the more promising recent results, but at the moment, it’s important to remember that the evidence on CBN and sleep is not convincing.
References
- Arnold, J. C., Occelli Hanbury-Brown, C. V., Anderson, L. L., Bedoya-Pérez, M. A., Udoh, M., Sharman, L. A., Raymond, J. S., Doohan, P. T., Ametovski, A., & McGregor, I. S. (2024). A sleepy cannabis constituent: Cannabinol and its active metabolite influence sleep architecture in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-02018-7
- Bonn-Miller, M. O., Feldner, M. T., Bynion, T. M., Eglit, G. M. L., Brunstetter, M., Kalaba, M., Zvorsky, I., Peters, E. N., & Hennesy, M. (2023). A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of the safety and effects of CBN with and without CBD on sleep quality. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000682
- Corroon, J. (2021). Cannabinol and sleep: Separating fact from fiction. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2021.0006
- Gannon, W. E., Bronfein, W., Jackson, D. S., Holshouser, K., Farrakhan, T., Artman, B. E., Schestepol, M., Treacy, D. J., & Rudnic, E. M. (2021). Novel formulation of THC and CBN in a repeat-action tablet improves objective and subjective measurements of sleep. American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine, 3(1). https://realmofcaring.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sleep-Study.pdf
- Kolobaric, A., Saleska, J., Hewlings, S. J., Bryant, C., Colwell, C. S., D’Adamo, C. R., Chen, J., & Pauli, E. K. (2024). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the effectiveness and safety of melatonin and three formulations of floraworks proprietary TruCBN™ for improving sleep. Pharmaceuticals, 17(8), 977. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17080977
- Maioli, C., Mattoteia, D., Amin, H. I. M., Minassi, A., & Caprioglio, D. (2022). Cannabinol: History, syntheses, and biological profile of the greatest “minor” cannabinoid. Plants, 11(21), 2896. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11212896
- Walsh, J. H., Maddison, K. J., Rankin, T., Murray, K., McArdle, N., Ree, M. J., Hillman, D. R., & Eastwood, P. R. (2021). Treating insomnia symptoms with medicinal cannabis: A randomized, crossover trial of the efficacy of a cannabinoid medicine compared with placebo. Sleep. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab149