A recent study by scientists at the University of Sydney has uncovered a sleep-enhancing compound in cannabis. The research, a first of its kind, has demonstrated through objective measures that cannabinol (CBN) can significantly improve sleep in rats.
The study has been published in the leading journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
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CBN is a naturally occurring cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant. It is a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.
While CBN has a similar chemical structure to THC, its effects are significantly different. CBN is not psychoactive and is often associated with relaxation and sleep-inducing properties. CBN may promote relaxation and sleep and some studies suggest that CBN may have pain-relieving properties. CBN may have anti-inflammatory properties and may stimulate appetite.
In the United States, highly purified CBN products are being sold as sleep aids, but there has been little high-quality scientific evidence to support this application.
The research team at the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics tested the effects of purified CBN on sleep in rats. Using high-tech monitoring, the experiments provided insights into the rats’ sleep patterns including the amount of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
NREM sleep is a crucial part of the sleep cycle. NREM sleep plays a vital role in physical and mental recovery, memory consolidation, and overall well-being.
“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 lead author on the study Professor Jonathon Arnold, Director of Preclinical Research, at the 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.”
Unlike its parent molecule THC, CBN did not appear to intoxicate rats. THC intoxicates by activating CB1 cannabinoid receptors, which are present in the brain. The study showed that unlike THC, CBN only weakly activates these receptors. To their surprise, the researchers found that a metabolite of CBN had significant effects on cannabinoid CB1 receptors.
A metabolite is a chemical produced via the metabolism of a larger molecule in the body.
They also found that the 11-OH CBN metabolite had some impact on sleep architecture, which might contribute to the overall effects of CBN on sleep.
“This provides the first evidence that CBN indeed increases sleep using objective sleep measures. It was a surprise that CBN metabolism in the body can yield a much greater effect on cannabinoid CB1 receptors than the parent molecule CBN, which has much more limited activity,” Professor Arnold said.
“At this stage our results are confined to testing in rats. Further research is needed to see if this translates to humans.”
