A new study sheds light on the complicated relationship between marijuana use, sleep quality, and memory function. While we already know that marijuana affects both sleep and memory, how these two might interact hasn’t been fully understood. This new research suggests that poor sleep might be the missing link connecting marijuana use to memory problems.
The Study at a Glance
Researchers conducted a secondary analysis on data from 141 adults diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) and 87 adults without the disorder. They wanted to see if poor sleep explains why people who use marijuana heavily might experience memory difficulties. The researchers also examined whether sex (male or female) influenced this relationship.
Participants with CUD were those who used marijuana at least five days a week over the previous year. The study measured both their sleep quality and memory performance. Memory tests included tasks that evaluated how well participants could recall visual objects and verbal information.
The research was led by Tracy Brown, a student in UT Dallas’ PhD psychology program. Tracy works in Francesca Filbey’s lab and investigates how chronic pain and marijuana use affect sleep quality, decision making, and neural activity.
The Key Findings
The study found that sleep quality plays a significant role in the relationship between marijuana use and memory problems. Specifically, people with CUD who reported poor sleep performed worse on visual memory tasks, both in terms of how quickly they recalled information and how accurate their memory was. The findings suggest that the worse someone’s sleep is, the more their memory suffers.
Despite earlier studies suggesting women may experience more severe sleep disturbances from marijuana use, the study did not find any differences between males and females in how sleep impacted memory among marijuana users.
Why Sleep Matters
Why does sleep matter so much in this equation? Sleep is crucial for memory formation and recall. Poor sleep, particularly a lack of deep sleep and REM sleep, can disrupt the brain’s ability to consolidate memories. The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, is known to affect parts of the brain that control both sleep and memory, such as the hippocampus. THC has been shown to reduce the amount of REM sleep and slow-wave sleep, both of which are critical for learning and memory retention.
Marijuana use can lead to shorter sleep duration and lower sleep quality, which in turn affects how well we remember things, especially visual information. In this study, people with CUD had more sleep issues than those without the disorder, which translated into poorer memory performance.
One unexpected result was that marijuana use didn’t seem to affect verbal memory in the same way it did visual memory. While both types of memory are important, this may suggest that poor sleep, driven by long-term marijuana use, primarily affects the brain’s ability to recall visual information.
What Does This Mean for Marijuana Users?
These findings are important, especially considering the growing number of people using marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. Many people use marijuana to help them sleep, but these results suggest that while marijuana might provide short-term sleep relief, it could lead to long-term sleep disturbances. These sleep problems, in turn, could impair memory, particularly visual memory.
For individuals with CUD, addressing sleep problems might be a key strategy in improving cognitive function.
The Big Takeaway
In summary, poor sleep appears to be a significant factor in the relationship between heavy marijuana use and memory problems, particularly when it comes to visual learning and memory. This new understanding highlights the importance of addressing sleep issues in people with CUD as a way to potentially improve their memory and overall cognitive function.
Whether you’re a recreational marijuana user or using it for medical reasons, it’s worth considering how marijuana affects your sleep—and by extension, your memory.
See Also: Can’t Sleep Without Weed? Marijuana Withdrawal May Be to Blame
Leah Zuroff, M.D., M.S.
Contributing Author
Dr. Zuroff completed medical school at the Perelman School of Medicine, where she concurrently received a Master of Science in Translational Research.
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