Cannabinol, or CBN, has gained traction in recent years for its potential benefits for managing insomnia. But while it’s understood that CBN is non-psychoactive, scientific data surrounding the cannabinoid’s potential benefits have been few and far between.
Instead, CBN has thrived on the coattails of anecdotal evidence, finding a niche in the cannabis industry as nature’s sleep aid.
But, a study from the University of Sydney and published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology found that CBN helped with sleep substantially when consumed by rats.
“For decades, cannabis folklore has suggested that aged cannabis makes consumers sleepy via the build-up of CBN, however, there was no convincing evidence for this,” said Jonathon Arnold, lead author of the study and director of preclinical research at Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics and the Sydney Pharmacy School.
“Our study provides the first objective evidence that CBN increases sleep, at least in rats, by modifying the architecture of sleep in a beneficial way,” said Arnold in the press release.
Researchers at the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics monitored sleep patterns in rats, which included paying close attention to both non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Though NREM and REM are two different sleep cycles, they provide essential bodily functions. NREM is a state of deep sleep that fosters physical recovery and memories, whereas REM contributes to emotional processing and dreaming.
“CBN was found to increase both NREM and REM sleep, leading to increased total sleep time, with a comparable effect to the known sleep drug zolpidem,” Arnold explained.
Though the results are promising, the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics hopes to expand upon this research — seeing how CBN benefits humans’ sleep patterns.
Iain McGregor, the clinical research director at Lambert Initiative, conducted a human clinical trial in insomnia patients. The study, which has yet to be published, was led by PhD student Isobel Lavender and sleep researcher Dr. Camilla Hoyos from the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.
“Our research encourages further basic and clinical research on CBN as a new treatment strategy for sleep disorders, including insomnia,” McGregor said in a press release.
“Our clinical study only administered CBN on a single occasion. A trial on a larger scale that includes repeated dosing is the next logical step.”
Arnold and his team hope to compare the efficacy of CBN when consumed with other cannabinoids — even alongside standard sleep aids like melatonin — in an upcoming preclinical drug discovery program.
