We've been told, over and over, that a good night’s sleep is a single, solid, unbroken block of eight hours—from lights out to alarm clock, no interruptions. So when our body or mind doesn't do that, it feels like proof of a problem. We’ve failed, and we’re not good sleepers.

But here's the thing. That’s just not true.

If you've spent any time on the wellness side of the internet, you've probably seen an explosion of sleep supplements: magnesium glycinate, apigenin, shwagandha gummies shaped like little bears, and melatonin in doses that would knock out a horse. There's a lot of noise, and some of it is genuinely useful. But when clients ask me what they should be taking for sleep, my answer usually surprises them, because it has almost nothing to do with what's in a supplement aisle.

The appeal of cannabis as a sleep aid is understandable and, to a degree, pharmacologically grounded. Before we fully get into it, however, there’s a few things that you need to know.