Medical marijuana can help patients with pain-induced insomnia stay asleep, a new Israeli study shows.

The study, published in the journal, BMJ, examined the effects of medical marijuana in older patients (50+) with sleep disturbances related to chronic pain. The study found that those who used cannabis were less likely to wake up throughout the night compared to those who didn’t use cannabis.

“Waking up at night was the most commonly reported sleep problem in this population,” the authors wrote. Patients also reported difficulty falling asleep and waking up too early, but those who used marijuana did not see improvements in these sleep disturbances.  

The authors suggested that the limited benefits could be due to patients building up a tolerance to marijuana’s effects. Often, people with chronic pain use medical marijuana frequently, which can make it less effective. The patients in the study had used marijuana for an average of four years and they used 31 grams per month on average. It was not known which strains patients used either. Some indica strains can be more effective at promoting sleep than others. 

The authors of the study called for more research to understand the relationship between pain, sleep, and medical marijuana.