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Smoking indica-dominant hybrids is also an option, but pure indicas are definitely the best possible solution for insomnia, because the balance between the THC and CBD cannabinoids offer the greatest relaxation and serenity.

Personal experience: When to smoke or vape

Aside from choosing the correct strain, it’s also important to perfect the timing of cannabis ingestion to get the best results. Quantity is the third crucial factor.

I suggest smoking a medium-sized joint anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes before the time you want to fall asleep.

Vaping is also a good choice (if you find a good vaporizer like Pax 3 for example). Be careful with edibles as the duration and intensity of the high caused by edibles can be overwhelming.

The reason why you should wait an hour or more between the smoking/vaping session and going to sleep is that you need to give your mind some time to overcome the psychoactive sensations of THC. For instance, if you go right to bed after smoking, your brain will be very active, even though your body might be relaxed. This is because THC causes the breaks between the firing of neurons to become practically non-existent, and because of this we get the impression that we’re thinking very fast, and in fact we really are.

If you want to find out more on this subject, and several other canna-related phenomena head to the article on the connection of cannabis and creativity. Besides the quickness-of-the-mind effect, indica will also produce a powerful couch-lock feeling, which can be described as a very sedated bodily sensation, extremely suitable for deep slumber. The trick is to wait for your body to process all the THC, and go to sleep while the “couch lock” is still happening.