I don’t mean to brag but I used to be really good at sleeping.
That changed after returning from Afghanistan in 2011. While deployed, I was on an 8 hours on 8 hours off sleep cycle. It was basically months of being jet lagged.
I have no trouble getting to sleep however I struggle to stay asleep. Often I wake up around 4am and stay awake for a couple of hours before dozing off again.
These insomnia spells often occur in sequence and I start to struggle by the third day of poor sleep. I want to fix my sleep.
This experiment will help me determine if low doses of cannabinoids assists my sleeping. As with my previous experiment, I am declaring the experiment before seeing the results to keep me honest.
Cannabinoid effect on Sleep
Hypothesis
Low dose Cannabidiol (CBD) & Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) taken orally before bed will increase sleep quality as measured by a Mi Band 3 using the Mi Fit sleep points metric.
Experiment
The experiment will be separated into 3 day experiment blocks and 3 day control blocks. The subject will take 10mg CBD & 10mg THC via 2 capsules prior to bed on experiment days. No other cannabis products will be consumed during the experiment period. The subject will wear a Mi Band 3 and use the Mi Fit app to track sleep quality.
The experiment will start on the 5th of June and run for 42 days. 42 day experiment length addresses weekly seasonality with 3 day experiment blocks. The results & calculations will be published on GitHub.
I welcome any feedback, comments, or advice on experiment design. Make a prediction in the comments below!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
- ---
title: "Experimenting with Cannabinoids"
description: "I ran a 42-day experiment with low-dose CBD and THC capsules before bed, tracking sleep quality with a Mi Band 3."
author: Greg
layout: post
permalink: /2019/06/experimenting-with-cannabinoids/
date: 2019-06-07 16:02:20 -0400
comments: True
licence: Creative Commons
categories:
- personal
tags:
- quantified self
- veteran
- ---
I don't mean to brag but I used to be really good at sleeping.
<p align="center">
<img width="75%" height="75%" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/greg_sleep.jpg" alt="Greg Sleeping" title="Greg Sleeping">
</p>
That changed after returning from Afghanistan in 2011. While deployed, I was on an 8 hours on 8 hours off sleep cycle. It was basically months of being jet lagged.
<p align="center">
<img width="75%" height="75%" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/greg_army.jpg" alt="Greg in Afghanistan" title="Greg in Afghanistan">
</p>
I have no trouble getting to sleep however I struggle to stay asleep. Often I wake up around 4am and stay awake for a couple of hours before dozing off again.
<p align="center">
<img width="75%" height="75%" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/greg_awake.gif" alt="Greg Awake" title="Greg Awake">
</p>
These insomnia spells often occur in sequence and I start to struggle by the third day of poor sleep. I want to fix my sleep.
This experiment will help me determine if low doses of cannabinoids assists my sleeping. As with my [previous experiment](/2019/05/self-experimentation-with-social-media/), I am declaring the experiment before seeing the results to keep me honest.
### Cannabinoid effect on Sleep
**Hypothesis**
Low dose Cannabidiol (CBD) & Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) taken orally before bed will increase sleep quality as measured by a Mi Band 3 using the Mi Fit sleep points metric.
**Experiment**
The experiment will be separated into 3 day experiment blocks and 3 day control blocks. The subject will take 10mg CBD & 10mg THC via 2 capsules prior to bed on experiment days. No other cannabis products will be consumed during the experiment period. The subject will wear a Mi Band 3 and use the Mi Fit app to track sleep quality.
The experiment will start on the 5th of June and run for 42 days. 42 day experiment length addresses weekly seasonality with 3 day experiment blocks. The [results & calculations](https://github.com/memair/experiments/blob/master/2019-06-05%20Cannabinoid%20effect%20on%20Sleep.ipynb) will be published on GitHub.
<p align="center">
<img width="100%" height="100%" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/experiment_results.png" alt="Experiment results" title="Experiment results">
</p>
I welcome any feedback, comments, or advice on experiment design. Make a prediction in the comments below!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----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=GvhE
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----