[Music]

foreign

[Applause]

if you've tried cannabis

you may have experienced some of its

side effects

she got a bit peckish and you've got the

local pizza shop on speed dial

or maybe you got a bit sleepy

so isn't it a no-brainer that cannabis

can help us sleep better

well I've been researching this topic as

a sleep physiologist and I'm here to

talk about why cannabis for treating

insomnia is complicated

humans have been using cannabis for at

least five thousand years

we've been using it to make clothes for

building materials it's been used in

religious ceremonies

and for its health benefits and

apparently it's been used for fun

but it's only been in the past hundred

or so years that we've started

understanding the science of cannabis

and its effects

we know that the cannabis plant contains

hundreds of chemical compounds including

the cannabinoids

the most well-known cannabinoid is Delta

9 tetrahydrocannabinol

you may have heard this as THC

THC is primarily known for its

intoxicating properties

that high that people tend to seek out

when they use cannabis recreationally

and when you're pulled over for those

roadside drug tests

it's the THC that they're looking for

the other well-known cannabinoid is

cannabidiol or CBD

unlike THC CBD is non-intoxicating

and as recently as about 30 years ago

scientists also discovered other

cannabinoids ones that are produced by

our own bodies the endocannabinoids

it's the endocannabinoids that are

produced in our brain and throughout our

body that are thought to cause that high

that people experience after running

or that relaxed post-exercise feeling

don't worry these ones are not being

detected by those roadside drug tests so

you can continue with your marathon

training

but what's really exciting about this

rapid increase in our understanding and

knowledge of cannabis and cannabinoids

is that the cannabis plant or cannabis

was illegal in most countries around the

world until the late 1990s

so it's only been in the past 20 or so

years

since it's been legalized at least for

medicinal use in some countries

that its use has been increasing

and we're understanding more about its

benefits

there's now pretty solid evidence

that cannabinoids can help treat rare

types of epilepsy

the nausea and vomiting associated with

some cancer treatments

it can also help

treat some forms of chronic or long-term

pain

the muscle stiffness associated with

multiple sclerosis

and in patients with HIV AIDS it can

improve appetite

and there is also some evidence that

cannabinoids may be helpful in reducing

anxiety associated with public speaking

I didn't make it up and I haven't had

any medicinal preparation today

cannabinoids might also be helpful for

treating some sleep disorders

most commonly it's been used to treat

insomnia in fact some surveys report

that up to 47 of people who use cannabis

medicinally are using it to improve

their sleep

insomnia is the most prevalent of the

Sleep Disorders it affects a third of us

and for 15 percent of us it is a chronic

problem so it lasts longer than three

months

the symptoms of insomnia are variable

you may have trouble falling asleep you

may have trouble staying asleep and if

you're really unlucky you might

experience both

but even if you haven't experienced

insomnia yourself you can probably

relate to the feelings of not having had

enough sleep and how it impacts you the

next day

perhaps you're not as patient with your

loved ones

you might find it hard to concentrate or

stay alert

or you might find it difficult to

remember things

like finding the right words

when you're doing a public talk that

you've had to memorize

in the long term

insomnia can contribute to conditions

like anxiety and depression

as well as some forms of cardiovascular

disease

but we have a good treatment for

insomnia

cognitive behavioral therapy for

insomnia or cbti

which is typically done under the

guidance of a specialist sleep

psychologist

but

can take weeks to see benefits from cbti

and it can be difficult to access

so wouldn't it be great

if we had

an alternative treatment for insomnia

that was safe

easy to access and gave us quick results

well

we know that cannabis has been used to

help sleep probably for thousands of

years

and there's plenty of reports of

improved sleep in people who have used

cannabinoids

for treating other medical conditions we

just don't have good evidence that it

can help with insomnia

so our team at the center for Sleep

science at the University of Western

Australia in Perth

recently teens with xaviera Therapeutics

to investigate the effects of a

cannabinoid medication on chronic

insomnia

in this world first study 24

participants took a cannabinoid

medication which contained THC and CBD

as well as another cannabinoid

cannabinol CBN for two weeks they also

took a placebo for two weeks in random

order

they didn't know which one they were

having and we didn't either until we'd

analyzed all of the data

over the two weeks we measured their

sleep with a wristwatch type device like

a research quality

smartwatch

and we also made more sophisticated

measures of their sleep over a single

night while they slept in a sleep

Laboratory

we found that when people took the

cannabinoid medication they actually

didn't sleep much better

when they're in the laboratory

this may be because it was just a single

night or it may be because they had to

sleep with equipment like this

what we did find

was that when people were sleeping at

home for two weeks as we measured their

sleep with that fancy wrist watch

that

they slept on average 33 minutes A Night

Longer

and they're awake for 10 minutes less

each night they also reported that they

felt they slept better and they felt

more rested on waking up each day

no one reported an increase in Pizza

consumption

seriously though this is the most

comprehensive investigation of any

medicinal cannabis product as a

treatment for insomnia that's ever been

done

and the results are really exciting

so does it mean

that if you've got insomnia you should

be sitting back on the couch each night

with a joint

well this is where things get

complicated

firstly cannabis remains illegal in most

countries around the world so please

don't do that

secondly like smoking cigarettes smoking

cannabis is associated with negative

long-term Health consequences so it's

not recommended

there are far safer ways that it can be

consumed

also

if you consume cannabis that you just

got from a friend

you won't know exactly what's in it

with medicinal cannabis we know the

concentrations of each of the

cannabinoids so we can work out exactly

how much of each cannabinoid you're

having

but

even though we might know how much of

each of the cannabinoids you're having

we also know that like any medication

your response to it might be variable

so what might make me happy and docile

might make you energetic and want to

clean the house and just saying if that

happens feel free to come over to my

place

but one of the main reasons that the

jury is still out and whether we should

be using cannabinoids to treat insomnia

is that although the results from our

study were really encouraging

it's just one study using one

combination of cannabinoids

and we studied 24 people who were

extensively screened to have no other

major health condition and to me pretty

much taking no other medication

we really need more research

in a larger more diverse group of people

using different formulations and

combinations of cannabinoids to really

be convinced of its benefit and safety

in saying that we do know that cannabis

is a relatively safe drug a lot of other

medications

including paracetamol and aspirin can

kill you if taken in high enough doses

it's impossible to consume a fatal

amount of cannabis

but you still can consume too much

and it can have negative effects on your

physical and mental health

and plenty of people have done really

silly or dangerous things after having

cannabis

however a lot of our understanding of

these risks associated with using

cannabis

have come from studying people who use

it recreationally

again we need more evidence

looking at the effects

of using cannabis or cannabinoids in the

doses and the populations that use it

medicinally

as you can see

answering the question about whether we

should use medicinal cannabis

to treat Sleep Disorders isn't so simple

to have an informed conversation

about the usefulness of cannabinoids for

treating medical conditions including

insomnia

we really need to generate more evidence

and to understand the science better

our research here in Perth is leading

the way in answering some of these

complicated questions and the early data

is really promising but the data party

has only just started

for those of you

who were hoping to get the green light

to use cannabis to get a better night's

sleep

you'll just need to wait for the

evidence to grow

thank you and

sleep well

foreign

[Applause]