Use marijuana while pregnant, and your child is more likely to suffer sleep problems as much as a decade later, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study of nearly 12,000 youth.
Published in Sleep Health: The Journal of The National Sleep Foundation, the paper is the latest to link prenatal cannabis use to developmental problems in children and the first to suggest it may impact sleep cycles long-term.
It comes at a time when – while the number of pregnant women drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes has declined in the United States – It has risen to 7% of all pregnant women as legalization spreads and more dispensaries recommend it for morning sickness.
As a society, it took us a while to understand that smoking and drinking alcohol are not advisable during pregnancy, but it is now seen as common sense. Studies like this suggest that it is prudent to extend that common sense advice to cannabis, even if use is now legal.”
John Hewitt, Senior Author, Director of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, CU Boulder
A landmark study
For the study, Hewitt and lead author Evan Winiger analyzed baseline data from the landmark Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which is following 11,875 youth from age 9 or 10 into early adulthood.
As part of an exhaustive questionnaire upon intake, participants’ mothers were asked if they had ever used marijuana while pregnant and how…
