Cannabis and Sleep Statistics by Age, Gender & Usage

October 2026

Nearly one in ten U.S. adults say they currently use cannabis to help them sleep, depending on the survey, yet the evidence on whether it works remains mixed. This resource compiles 40+ verified cannabis and sleep statistics from the CDC, the National Sleep Foundation, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the University of Michigan, and peer-reviewed research. All figures are survey-based and self-reported.

How Common Is Cannabis Use for Sleep in the United States

The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics measured sleep aid use among 31,509 adults in the 2024 National Health Interview Survey. The figures below count adults who used each type of sleep aid most days or every day in the past 30 days.

In 2024, 3.7% of U.S. adults used marijuana or CBD products as a sleep aid most days or every day.
By comparison, 5.2% of adults used prescription medication and 5.7% used over-the-counter medication or supplements to help them fall or stay asleep.
12.9% of adults used at least one type of sleep aid most days or every day.
15.4% of adults had trouble falling asleep most days or every day in the past 30 days.

Current, Past & Future Cannabis Sleep Aid Use

Two National Sleep Foundation (NSF) surveys measure how many adults have turned to cannabis for sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) adds a broader measure from its 2023 survey of 2,005 adults.

A projected 22 million U.S. adults (9%) currently use a cannabis product as a sleep aid, according to NSF’s April 2025 release.
A projected 45 million adults (17%) have used cannabis products for sleep in the past.
23% of adults, or about 60 million people, say they are likely to try cannabis products as a sleep aid.
NSF found that the legal status of cannabis in a person’s state did not affect reported rates of current, past, or likely future use for sleep.
A June 2026 Sleep Health study found that 8.6% of 1,367 surveyed adults currently use cannabis to help them sleep.
9.9% of adults in the same study had used cannabis for sleep in the past.
About 11% of adults who had never used cannabis for sleep said they would consider trying it in the future.
In the AASM’s 2023 survey, 25% of Americans said they occasionally or regularly use marijuana to help them fall asleep or stay asleep.
30% of parents with children under 18 at home used marijuana as a sleep aid, compared with 19% of non-parents (AASM, 2023).

Cannabis Sleep Aid Use by Age & Gender

Cannabis follows a different age pattern from other sleep aids. Use is highest among younger adults and falls steadily with age, according to both the CDC and the AASM’s 2025 survey of 2,007 adults.

Adults ages 18 to 34 had the highest rate of marijuana or CBD sleep aid use at 5.5% (CDC, 2024).
Use was 4.4% among adults ages 35 to 49 and 2.9% among adults ages 50 to 64.
Adults 65 and older had the lowest rate at 1.7%.
The CDC found no significant difference between men (4.0%) and women (3.5%) in marijuana or CBD sleep aid use.
Women were more likely than men to use any type of sleep aid most days or every day (14.8% vs. 10.8%).
Prescription sleep aid use rises from 2.2% of adults ages 18 to 34 to 8.8% of those 65 and older, and over-the-counter use rises from 3.9% to 7.6%, the opposite of the marijuana or CBD pattern.
In the AASM’s 2025 survey, the share of adults who said they do not use marijuana rose with age: 31% of ages 18 to 24, 30% of ages 25 to 44, 55% of ages 45 to 54, 65% of ages 55 to 64, and 76% of ages 65 and older.
55% of women reported no marijuana use, compared with 39% of men.
39% of men reported sleeping better due to marijuana use, compared with 28% of women.
Respondents ages 25 to 44 were the most likely to report a beneficial effect of marijuana on their sleep (45%).
Only 12% of adults 65 and older reported that marijuana improves their sleep.

Young Adults & Cannabis Use for Sleep

The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Panel Study surveyed 1,473 U.S. adults ages 19 to 30 in 2022–2023. It is among the first national studies of why young adults use substances to manage their sleep.

22% of young adults ages 19 to 30 reported using cannabis, alcohol, or both to help them fall asleep.
18% used cannabis to sleep, compared with 7% who used alcohol to sleep.
Women were nearly twice as likely as men to use cannabis to help them get to sleep.

How People Who Use Cannabis for Sleep Consume It

A peer-reviewed 2023 study in Exploration of Medicine analyzed a survey of 1,216 people who use cannabis for sleep and who use a Canadian medical cannabis app. Every respondent already used cannabis for sleep, so these figures describe user habits and do not represent all adults.

60.0% of respondents preferred high-THC products for sleep.
21.7% preferred balanced THC:CBD products, and 5.3% preferred high-CBD products.
Joints were the most common format at 46.1%, followed by vaping flower at 42.6% and oils at 42.5%.
34.9% used edibles, 33.9% used vape pens, and 14.6% used capsules.
Among the 624 respondents who consider specific compounds, 78.8% sought THC, 47.1% sought CBD, and 49.0% sought the terpene myrcene.
68.0% used cannabis as a sleep aid every night.
23.9% used cannabis for sleep a few times a week.
81.8% said they do not currently use over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids.
Only 4.4% combined cannabis with over-the-counter sleep aids, and only 7.9% combined it with prescription sleep aids.
82.2% reported difficulty falling asleep, and 64.9% had experienced sleep issues for more than five years.
Nearly 70% had used cannabis for sleep for at least one year.

How Adults Say Marijuana Affects Their Sleep

These figures come from an AASM-commissioned online survey of 2,007 U.S. adults, fielded June 5–13, 2025, with a margin of error of about 2 percentage points. They reflect what adults report about their own sleep, not medical outcomes.

33% of adults said their sleep is slightly or significantly better when they use marijuana.
That total includes 18% who said significantly better and 15% who said slightly better.
11% reported no impact on their sleep.
8% said their sleep is worse when they use marijuana, including 4% slightly worse and 4% significantly worse.
47% of respondents said they do not use marijuana.
In NSF’s survey of more than 1,300 adults, people who used cannabis as a sleep aid, now or in the past, reported significantly lower sleep duration and poorer sleep quality than people who did not.
The Sleep Health study could not determine whether poor sleep leads people to use cannabis or whether cannabis use contributes to poorer sleep.