CholineHead
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 28, 2026
- Messages
- 1
Been smoking daily for a while now, evenings mostly. The sleep degradation crept up on me - barely dream anymore, wake up feeling like I didn't really rest. Did some reading and it's pretty clearly the THC hammering my REM cycles. I'm not in a place to quit right now so I've been trying to patch things up with a few supplements. Curious if anyone here has gone down this road.
Here's what I'm currently running:
Galantamine - low dose, taken about 4–5 hrs into sleep when REM pressure is naturally peaking. It raises acetylcholine which is a key driver of REM. My main uncertainty here is whether THC just steamrolls it anyway - the mechanisms are different (cholinergic vs endocannabinoid) so I'm hoping there's still some net benefit, but I honestly don't know.
Melatonin - 0.5–1mg before bed. THC pushes back your natural melatonin release, so this is just trying to restore that timing. Keeping the dose low on purpose - more doesn't seem to help and just makes me groggy.
L-theanine - weed can have a bit of an activating effect on me at night which doesn't help with falling asleep. Theanine smooths that out without knocking me out. Feels like it helps me transition into sleep more naturally.
The galantamine is the thing I'm most unsure about. If anyone has actually used it alongside regular THC use I'd really like to hear how that went - whether you noticed any REM benefit or if it felt like a waste.
I'm also working on pushing my last session earlier, ideally 6+ hrs before sleep instead of the 3–4 I'm at now. My gut says that's probably the biggest lever here, more than any supplement.
Also have magnesium glycinate and playing with CBD:THC ratios on my radar. If there's anything else people have found useful for keeping sleep architecture intact while using regularly, I'm all ears.
Here's what I'm currently running:
Galantamine - low dose, taken about 4–5 hrs into sleep when REM pressure is naturally peaking. It raises acetylcholine which is a key driver of REM. My main uncertainty here is whether THC just steamrolls it anyway - the mechanisms are different (cholinergic vs endocannabinoid) so I'm hoping there's still some net benefit, but I honestly don't know.
Melatonin - 0.5–1mg before bed. THC pushes back your natural melatonin release, so this is just trying to restore that timing. Keeping the dose low on purpose - more doesn't seem to help and just makes me groggy.
L-theanine - weed can have a bit of an activating effect on me at night which doesn't help with falling asleep. Theanine smooths that out without knocking me out. Feels like it helps me transition into sleep more naturally.
The galantamine is the thing I'm most unsure about. If anyone has actually used it alongside regular THC use I'd really like to hear how that went - whether you noticed any REM benefit or if it felt like a waste.
I'm also working on pushing my last session earlier, ideally 6+ hrs before sleep instead of the 3–4 I'm at now. My gut says that's probably the biggest lever here, more than any supplement.
Also have magnesium glycinate and playing with CBD:THC ratios on my radar. If there's anything else people have found useful for keeping sleep architecture intact while using regularly, I'm all ears.
