Can't sleep after quitting weed

Sleeping badly is one of the most common parts of quitting weed, and one of the slowest to settle, but it does settle. The more you were using, the harder and longer it tends to be.

How long does it last?

Most withdrawal symptoms start in the first three days, peak between days two and six, and fade within about two weeks. That's from a small study that followed 18 heavy users through 45 days off cannabis. Sleep is the exception. In a later study of heavy users living on a research unit for a month, trouble falling asleep and strange dreams were still getting worse at the end of it.

So for most people the worst nights are over within a week or two, while sleep itself can take a month or more, and the dreams are often the last thing to go.

Bad nights are one of the main reasons people go back. In a study of adult users who weren't in treatment, 70% of those who'd had withdrawal before had used cannabis again to relieve it. It helps to know the nights are expected and that they pass.

Why it happens

Cannabis acts on receptors in your brain, and when you use it most nights they turn themselves down. They start to recover within a couple of days of stopping and take about four weeks to get back to normal. While they do, falling asleep can take longer and sleep can be lighter.

Heavy users who spent their first nights off cannabis in a sleep lab slept less and got less deep sleep than people who don't use it. The study was small, and it couldn't say how much of that was there before they stopped.

Dreams can get vivid for a while, and some are disturbing. In the study that built a widely used withdrawal scale, nightmares and strange dreams were the clearest sign that someone was in withdrawal, though people were less bothered by them than by the trouble getting to sleep. If cannabis was keeping trauma nightmares away, the ones that come back are worth taking to a doctor rather than waiting out.

What helps

Keep your get-up time through the rough nights, and wait until you're sleepy before you go to bed. When you're wide awake and getting wound up, get out of bed for a bit. If you're very sleepy the next day, don't drive.

Maybe smoking or an edible was your wind-down. Find a new wind-down to repeat each night, like a bath, a book or a game with someone. Exercise may help with withdrawal too, though it hasn't been well tested.

Watch for swaps. In that same study, about four in ten people who tried something to ease withdrawal reached for alcohol, and in another study daily users with past drinking problems drank half as much again while off cannabis. A drink to get to sleep breaks up the back half of the night anyway, and caffeine after 2pm can keep you up. If you mixed it with tobacco, you may be coming off nicotine as well.

When to get help

Cannabis withdrawal isn't dangerous on its own. Talk to a doctor first if you're stopping alcohol, sleeping pills or anti-anxiety pills at the same time, or you've been using synthetic cannabinoids like K2 or Spice, whose withdrawal can be much harder. Get help soon if you can't keep fluids down or your mood keeps sinking.

If you were using cannabis for pain, anxiety, PTSD, nightmares or sleep, or you have a mental health condition or take a regular medicine, tell your doctor you're stopping. The old problem can come back, and some medicines need checking when you stop smoking.

If your sleep is still bad after a month or two, see a doctor, tell them about the cannabis, and ask about CBT-I, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

In the US, SAMHSA's National Helpline is free, confidential and open around the clock, and can point you to treatment and support near you: 1-800-662-4357. If you're having thoughts of suicide or harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US, or your local emergency number.