Brant Hasler
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Psychology·Early-career
Many young adults use cannabis, and many also sleep poorly or keep very late hours. These problems may feed each other: poor sleep and a preference for late sleep timing predict greater cannabis use, and cannabis in turn changes sleep.
- Fields
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Neuroscience
- Topics
sleep
circadian rhythms
cannabis
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2031
What they work on
- Test how regular cannabis use and four weeks of abstinence change homeostatic sleep drive in 18-25-year-olds, using at-home sleep EEG headbands on nights with and without cannabis.
- Measure whether cannabis use and discontinuation alter circadian photosensitivity, how strongly light resets the body clock, and circadian phase, using laboratory assessments before and after abstinence.
- Explore sex differences in cannabis effects on sleep, circadian rhythms and light responsivity, comparing female and male users with age- and sex-matched healthy-sleeping non-users.
- Adapt the TSC behavioral sleep program into TSC-C, adding chronotherapy and content on substances used as sleep aids, refining it through qualitative interviews and an open trial with emerging adults.
- Compare TSC-C with sleep education in a small randomized trial, tracking feasibility, acceptability, sleep disturbance, sleep-related impairment and cannabis use as a sleep aid.
- Support mentee-led analyses of archival data from multiple sleep, circadian and substance-use studies to advance understanding of sleep-substance use links.
More about the research
If sleep and the body's internal clock (circadian rhythms) can be shifted, they may offer a way to reduce cannabis misuse in people aged 18 to 25. One project asks how cannabis alters sleep and the clock; the other builds and tests a sleep-based behavioral treatment for young adults who use cannabis, and funds mentoring of junior clinician-investigators.
Why it matters
Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder peak in emerging adulthood, when sleep problems are also common. This work could show whether sleep and circadian rhythms are modifiable factors that lower the risk of cannabis misuse, and could yield a behavioral sleep treatment that helps young adults sleep better without relying on cannabis as a sleep aid. That would give clinicians a possible non-drug option for this high-risk age group.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Lauren Hartstein
University of Arizona, AZ·Psychology·Early-career
Assess whether families of 5- to 6-year-olds with difficulty falling asleep can implement and accept two evening light-reduction strategies, using adherence measures and qualitative parent interviews after a two-week trial.
Anne Fairlie
University of Washington, WA·Psychology
Examine how the strength of links among nonmedical prescription stimulant use, alcohol and cannabis use, academic stress and sleep problems changes across the academic quarter, using 22 weekly surveys from 300 college students.
Christian Hopfer
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether 8 weeks of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD), compared with placebo, reduces THC use, cannabis use disorder symptoms, anxiety and depression in emerging adults who use cannabis regularly, using a randomized trial.
The school
University of Pittsburgh: 83 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 403 research doctorates a year.
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