While certain longtime stigmas associated with medical cannabis and various marijuana products are silly and false, some also do have a connection to the truth – and to the benefits such products provide. A good example here is sleepiness, which is often discussed in comical or unflattering ways when discussing marijuana, but is actually a specific benefit for many of those who use medical cannabis.
At Whole Leaf Medical Dispensary and CBD, we’re happy to discuss sleepiness and other effects of any of our medical cannabis products with our clients, from our edible cannabis options to flower, tincture and various concentrate choices. In this two-part blog, we’ll go over everything you need to know about medical marijuana and sleepiness, whether you’re using it specifically for sleep assistance or some other primary purpose.
For starters, it’s important to lay out the baseline for why various individuals use medical cannabis. Many of the most common such uses are in areas where sleepiness is viewed as a benefit – many patients use cannabis specifically to help them with insomnia or other sleep conditions, while others use it for chronic pain that often bleeds into sleep problems for those suffering.
On the flip side, some people use cannabis for very different purposes, such as anxiety or reducing seizures. In these cases, sleepiness might be viewed as an undesirable side effect rather than a primary benefit. In either case, understanding why this is happening can go a long way to ensuring you get the proper cannabis product for your needs.
The body has numerous receptors that define how it responds to various substances or triggers put in it, and scientists in the 1990s discovered that it has a specific group of cannabinoid receptors designed specifically to respond to cannabis. This system is known as the endogenous cannabinoid system, or the endocannabinoid system (ECS).
This system connects the brain to both the central and peripheral nervous systems, helping regulate basic bodily functions and balance. Cannabinoid receptors can be found all over the body, in fact, including your brain, nerves, heart, arteries, urinary tract and even on your skin.
In fact, we can take this one step further: Not only does the body have cannabinoid receptors all over, it also produces many of its own cannabinoids. These are called endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids. In part two of this series, we’ll show you how this system, and these cannabinoid, interact with their receptors and the body to create sleepiness in some forms of medical cannabis.
For more on this, or to learn about any of our medical dispensary services, speak to the staff at Whole Leaf Medical Dispensary and CBD today.