The Case Against Using Cannabis and Alcohol to Sleep

Woman lying awake in bed beside an alarm clock — Photo: SB Arts Media / Shutterstock

Millions of people pour a nightcap or take a puff before bed, convinced it helps them sleep. New reporting says that belief is mostly wrong.

Quick Take

A Time report says alcohol and cannabis create a “cheap trick” of sleepiness, not real restorative sleep.
Regular use of either substance can weaken healthy sleep patterns and raise the risk of dependence.
Studies show alcohol disrupts the second half of the night, causing more awakenings and lighter sleep.
Young adults increasingly use both substances to fall asleep, even though experts call the payoff mostly an illusion.

The Sleep Aid That Isn’t

Time’s recent article lays out a blunt case: alcohol and cannabis “offer a cheap trick” when it comes to sleep. Both can make a person feel drowsy fast. But feeling sleepy and actually sleeping well are two different things. Researchers quoted in the piece warn that regular use “weakens healthy sleep” and raises the odds of building a dependence on the substance just to nod off.

That gap between feeling sedated and sleeping soundly shows up again and again in the science. Studies split the evidence into three buckets: how sleepy someone feels, what actually happens in the brain during sleep, and how a person functions the next day. A person might report falling asleep faster after a drink or a smoke, yet still wake up groggy, foggy, and worn out hours later.

What Alcohol Actually Does To Your Night

Alcohol’s biggest problem shows up late at night, not at the start. It can help someone doze off quicker and calm the first few hours of sleep. But as the body breaks alcohol down, the second half of the night turns rough. Research links this to more nighttime awakenings, disrupted sleep cycles, and lower overall sleep efficiency. The body essentially trades a fast start for a broken finish.

Alcohol also messes with sleep architecture, the natural cycle of light sleep, deep sleep, and dream sleep the body needs each night. Studies show drinking before bed pushes people into more slow-wave sleep early on, then cuts into rapid eye movement sleep later, the stage tied to memory and mental recovery. Over time, chronic drinkers also see the sedating effect fade, meaning it takes more alcohol to get the same drowsy feeling.

Cannabis Shows A Similar Pattern

Cannabis follows its own version of this trade-off. Daily diary studies found that nights of cannabis use as a sleep aid predicted longer sleep duration and fewer post-sleep awakenings, but also greater next-day fatigue. In other words, people may sleep longer hours, yet still feel drained the next day. Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research put it plainly: these substances “can backfire” by disrupting the ability to stay asleep.

Long-term, regular cannabis use appears to make things worse rather than better. One study found using cannabis for sleep was linked to roughly double the likelihood of worse sleep quality six months later. Objective sleep monitoring also suggests cannabis can increase the time it takes to fall asleep and how often a person wakes overnight, even when it feels helpful in the moment.

Why This Matters For Younger Users

The habit is spreading among young people at a notable rate. More than one in five young adults report using cannabis or alcohol to help them sleep, according to survey data circulating alongside this research. Experts note that around one in ten cannabis users can become addicted, and that risk climbs to about one in six among younger users who start earlier. For teenagers, the health risks tied to using these substances as sleep aids may be especially high.

None of this means every occasional drink or edible ruins a night’s rest. But the pattern researchers describe is consistent: short-term sedation is not the same thing as quality sleep. Anyone relying on alcohol or cannabis nightly to fall asleep is likely trading a few easy minutes at bedtime for a rougher, less restful night overall.

A Better Path Forward

Sleep experts generally point people toward behavior-based fixes instead, things like consistent bedtimes, cutting late caffeine, and limiting screens before bed. Alcohol is described in some clinical circles as “essentially universally discouraged” by sleep specialists as a tool for better rest. That is a strong consensus, not a fringe opinion, and it lines up with basic common sense: masking a problem is not the same as solving it.

For readers who have leaned on a beer or an edible to drift off, the research offers a fair trade to consider. Swapping short-term comfort for long-term rest is not a small ask, but the payoff, actual deep and steady sleep, is one most people say they want anyway.

"While cannabis and alcohol may seem to assist in sleep, these substances offer a cheap trick," writes Joan M. Cook https://t.co/hlYheloCrE

— TIME (@TIME) July 31, 2026

The bottom line from this body of research is straightforward. Alcohol and cannabis can dull the mind enough to fall asleep, but they do not deliver the deep, uninterrupted rest the body needs to recover. Treating them as a bedtime shortcut may cost more sleep than it buys.