Image of a marijuana joint being rolled
More than 1 in 5 young adults reported using cannabis or alcohol to help them fall asleep.
According to new findings from the University of Michigan's annual Monitoring the Future Panel Study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 22% of U.S. young adults aged 19 to 30 reported using one or both of these substances to sleep.
Cannabis was far more common than alcohol for this purpose: 18% said they used cannabis to sleep, compared to 7% who used alcohol to sleep. Among those who had used any cannabis in the past year, 41% said they did so specifically to initiate sleep.
"Using these substances to get to sleep can backfire because they can interfere with the ability to stay asleep and with the quality of sleep," said Megan Patrick, research professor at the Institute for Social Research and principal investigator of the MTF Panel Study. "They appear to actually disrupt sleep in the long term. The fact that so many young adults reported that they use cannabis to sleep is alarming."
Published in JAMA Pediatrics, the study analyzed data from 1,473 young U.S. adults and found gender and racial disparities in the use of these substances to sleep:
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Women were nearly twice as likely as men to use cannabis to help them get to sleep.
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Participants identifying as another gender were more than four times as likely as men to do so.
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Black young adults were three times as likely as white peers to use alcohol for sleep.
"Long-term, regular use of these substances to get to sleep may lead to worse sleep problems and increased risk for substance use disorder," Patrick said. "For example, frequently using a substance to get to sleep may lead to tolerance, or needing more of it to get the same effect. In other words, rather than resulting in better sleep, it may lead to additional sleep problems and escalating substance use."
The research is one of the first national examinations of how and why young adults use substances to manage sleep. The MTF Panel Study annually tracks substance use trends among nationally representative samples of U.S. students followed into adulthood.
"Unfortunately, there is a misconception that substance use can be helpful for sleep problems, but it can make things worse," Patrick said. "High-quality sleep is critical for mental health and regulating mood. Young adults told us that they are using cannabis to try to get to sleep, but doing so may make their sleep problems even worse. They need to know the potential risks."
Given the high co-occurrence of substance use and sleep problems in young adults, clinicians should be aware of this issue. The findings emphasize the necessity of effective, integrated screening and interventions.
"Health care providers should understand how common both sleep problems and substance use are during young adulthood," Patrick said. "And that many young adults are using cannabis specifically to get to sleep. People who are trying to manage sleep problems should talk to their doctors or other providers."
The study's authors also included Yuk Pang and Yvonne Terry-McElrath of U-M's Institute for Social Research.
Study: Cannabis and Alcohol Use to Initiate Sleep Among Young Adults (DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.3642)
Journal
JAMA Pediatrics