When a person is stressed out or anxious, one of the most common things to be negatively affected is the sleep routine. Whether this means weird and vivid dreams, a shift in sleep schedule or uncomfortable bouts of insomnia, quality of sleep has likely been affected by the pandemic.

In recent weeks, the internet and other news outlets have reported a spike in strange dreams and people who can’t settle down to sleep for their usual eight hours. While the pandemic might be forcing us to talk things out more openly and consider each shift in routines to be an event, psychologists do think that fears and anxiety like the ones triggered by the coronavirus have an effect on quality of sleep.

“People are reporting an increase in anxiety and fears related to uncertainty. Those feelings often translate to sleep disturbances,” Julie Kolzet, Ph.D., told Psycom.

Cannabis and sleep have a strong connection, particularly strains or products with a high level of THC. But what about CBD?

Although some research has been conducted on CBD and the effect that it has on our bodies, not a lot is known about CBD and sleep. There’s some anecdotal evidence of people using CBD as a sleep aid, but that’s not enough to draw significant conclusions.

A literary review of cannabinoids found that THC and CBD were the compounds most cited as sleep aides, which is promising. But unless more studies are conducted, there’s no way of knowing if the compounds themselves are the ones causing the sleepiness, or if this just occurs due to the entourage effect that cannabis produces.

A 2019 study notes that when CBD was given to patients battling anxiety and trouble sleeping, over 80 per cent reported sleep improvements within a month. / Photo: RJohn97 / iStock / Getty Images Plus RJohn97 / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The fact that CBD provides anxiety and stress relief might influence your quality of sleep and the kind of concerns you go to bed with, which could seep into your dreams. A 2019 study conducted on CBD, anxiety and sleep notes that when CBD was given to patients battling anxiety and trouble sleeping, over 80 per cent reported sleep improvements within a month. CBD was given to them in a controlled clinical setting in addition to the patient’s usual treatment.

More research is needed in order to draw concrete results between CBD and sleep. Although the connection between CBD and sleep is not the first one that comes to mind when speaking about CBD’s main benefits, the connection between CBD and anxiety is significant.

With the coronavirus pandemic, it’s very likely that sleep issues have popped up due to stress. It doesn’t hurt to try out something new.