Cannabis and alcohol use for sleep aid: A daily diary investigation.

Abstract

Objective: One in 5 college students use substances such as cannabis and/or alcohol to help sleep. Despite this high prevalence of sleep aid use, there remains a lack of research on the potential day-to-day sleep- and substance-related consequences. The current study examined associations of cannabis and alcohol sleep aid use with subsequent sleep and substance use consequences among college students. Method: Of a baseline sample of 217 college students endorsing past-month cannabis and/or alcohol use (1% cannabis only, 42% alcohol only, 58% both), 83 students endorsing past-month cannabis and/or alcohol use for sleep aid (Mage = 19.33 [SD = 1.11], 30% male, 72% White) completed online questionnaires for 14 consecutive days to report daily sleep, substance use, and negative substance consequences. Results: Multilevel models demonstrated that nights of cannabis sleep aid use predicted longer same-night sleep duration, shorter same-night wake time after sleep onset, and greater next-day daytime fatigue within person, after controlling for daily cannabis frequency. Alcohol sleep aid use was not associated with sleep-related outcomes or negative drinking consequences after controlling for daily alcohol quantity; these null results may be due to a low frequency of alcohol sleep aid use (1% of observations) over 14 days of assessment. Conclusions: Results highlight daytime fatigue as a potential adverse short-term outcome of cannabis sleep aid use, despite its proximal sleep-related benefits.

Motives for Substance Use in Daily Life: A Systematic Review of Studies Using Ecological Momentary Assessment

“…In particular, two studies assessed motives for substance use in the early evening (e.g., between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.; Dvorak et al, 2014; Stevenson et al, 2019). Although most studies assessed motives only if participants had used substances (or were about to use substances), in a few studies (e.g., Goodhines et al, 2019; O’Donnell et al, 2019), motivation was assessed regardless of actual substance use. Accordingly, there was some discrepancy between studies with regard to whether only substance-use days were analyzed, and therefore substance-use quantity and consequences were outcomes, or whether all days during the EMA assessment period were analyzed, and therefore any substance use was an outcome.…”

“…Several studies were not presented in Table 2, including three that examined relationships between alcohol use motives and next-day negative affect (Armeli et al, 2014, 2016, 2018) and two that assessed the relationship between cannabis use and subsequent negative affect and fatigue (Goodhines et al, 2019; Ross et al, 2018). These findings generally indicate that EMA-reported coping motives for alcohol and cannabis use are associated with subsequent negative affect.…”

Cannabis Use and Sleep Quality in Daily Life: a Daily Diary Study of Adults Starting Cannabis for Health Concerns

“…Owing to the complex legal status of medical cannabis and the relatively novel methodological requirements of intensive longitudinal assessment, however, limited work has used experience sampling designs (e.g., daily diary, ecological momentary assessment) in studies of medical cannabis. This is particularly true across the relatively longer time scales used in pragmatic, effectiveness studies amenable to medical cannabis (e.g., 12 weeks) compared to the shorter timescales most frequently used in experience sampling and naturalistic studies of cannabis (<1 month)(Goodhines et al ., 2019)(Verdoux et al ., 2003)(Buckner et al ., 2012))(Schuster et al ., 2016)(Budney et al ., 2001). Further, few studies have validated intensive web-based cannabis self-report from experience sampling studies against field-standard interview-based assessments or urinalysis.…”

Academic factors associated with college students’ prescription stimulant misuse in daily life: An ecological analysis of multiple levels

“…As well, surprisingly little work has examined college students' prescription stimulant misuse in daily life, despite rigorous ecologically-based assessments of other salient substance behaviors in this developmental period, including tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis use. 9,10 Guided by an ecological perspective on prescription drug misuse 11 that considers multiple levels of context around the focal behavior, the current study examines academic predictors associated with college students' prescription stimulant misuse, including risk or protective factors related to individual students, calendar timing, and particular moments in daily life.…”