Author: Mark
Sleep. My best friend and enemy at the same time. Around 16 years old, I developed a habit of staying up late where I could do what I wanted without interruption, whether it was making music, playing video games, or reading books. Once University came around, I would purposefully look to schedule all of my classes in the afternoon, knowing I had become a nighthawk. I had worked my way through school, and found a job that worked with my schedule at a hotel doing banquets. The shifts were from 5pm to around 3am, and I decided to work in the service industry for many years to follow.
The funny part about my innate drive to stay up late is that I love sleep. I mean, if I could sleep 12 hours a night, I would. But the times I am supposed to be asleep, and when my body wants to sleep, never sync up with what’s going on in my life. There are nights where I will set myself up to be in bed by midnight latest, and still be rolling around at 3am, getting irritable at myself for not being able to fall asleep. Many times, it is my active mind that seems to want to turn on and perpetually go over new ideas, or scenarios in my head over and over. It was many years before I recognized this was happening, and found a few ways to help control and regulate my thoughts and eventually my sleep cycle.
The first was meditation. By 24 I had started to recognize that anxiety played a part in my insomnia, and I learned a few techniques that helped me train my conscious self to either stop circling thoughts, or let them pass by altogether. This was a great tool in my belt and allowed me to “shut down” in the evenings before I tried to sleep. The second was cannabis. At the time I didn’t realize exactly why I had been using it in the evenings so much throughout my 20’s, but I came to realize that I had been self-medicating for many years. Whether it was stress from school, work, or personal life, I had been using cannabis almost daily in the evenings to let myself be able to go to bed and actually have a proper sleep. When cannabis was legalized in 2017, it was the first time I considered using it properly as a medicine with actual medical advice and proper dosing, despite it medically being available since 2001.
While smoking it in my 20s it was an unknown strain and probably more than I needed, while cannabis oils have allowed me to actually derive the exact amount I need to take an hour before bed. Since then, I have been using a 1:1 oil ratio of THC to CBD, and never wake up the next day feeling groggy. This was the ratio and dosage I obtained from my doctor at Apollo and is definitely an important step for anybody when finding what strain and dose will work best for your individual self. This was a huge turning point for me as I started to move into the business world and work 9-5 jobs.
I’ve always wanted to share my story because I know there are many people out there who are also staring at their ceilings at 4am, and I just got lucky that I discovered it’s benefits when I was in University. It makes me so happy that I can speak openly about it now with my family and show that it really is a proven medicine, with almost no side effects. I’m looking forward to seeing the advances made in the medical cannabis world, and happy to have been a part of it.
– Mark
Seek Professional Advice First
Please consult your doctor first before using medical cannabis for treating insomnia or any other medical condition. They can provide instructions on proper intake, dosing, and if you should avoid certain pharmaceutical drugs.
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