I vape weed due to insomnia. I suffer from idiopathic insomnia and very bad Restless Leg Syndrome which affects my entire body (even during the day during particularly bad bouts). Without weed, I don't sleep. Doctor's solution would be a fuck load of opioids, which I don't want when there's a more natural and safer solution available.
Things I've read/discovered about using weed for sleep:
- Older, slightly drier weed is supposedly better for inducing sleep. Don't ask me why or how, I don't know. And, to be fair, I vape a cheap shake which is a little older and drier and it works wonders.
- Lower dosages work better for sleep. My personal experience also backs this up, higher dosage = buzzed, lower dosage = drowsy. I like to feel like I've had a couple of pints of beer, at that point I sleep well.
- As much as they suck, take regular T-breaks. I do two 2-week T-breaks per year. I get the impression I should actually be doing them slightly more regularly, but it seems to be working for me.
- At the risk of starting a massive argument, there's not much evidence that strain makes much — if any — difference. However, the article I read that said this did concede that different terp profiles might make a difference and that was something that hadn't received much testing.
- Weed-induced sleep isn't as restful as natural sleep, and you probably won't dream while you're under the influence. My goal is to have JUST enough weed to get me through the "danger zone" of the night: 3am-5am. If I wake during that time then I won't get back to sleep, but if I take too much weed I'll be groggy and badly rested by the time the alarm goes off.
Also a second vote from me for magnesium, which is what I used before I discovered weed. It helped me a lot with my sleep, my Restless Leg Syndrome, and also an autoimmune skin condition I've suffered from my entire life. Only problem is it can give you the shits. Different forms of magnesium can be gentler on the stomach but then they're less bio-available and so you have to take more. I also tried a skin-applied alternative one time but it gave me dermatitis so it ended up in the bin (wasn't cheap, either). YMMV. IANAD.