A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana\u2014evidence that contradicts the \u201clazy stoner\u201d stereotype\u2014although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes.<\/p>\n
The paper, by a team of ten researchers from across the U.S., was published by the journal Addictive Behaviors late last month. It used data from a four-week nationwide study of 98 adults over the age of 18 that tracked behaviors such as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as consumption of controlled substances.<\/p>\n
Only people who reported marijuana use on at least one of the 28 days were included, allowing the team to assess how past-month cannabis consumers\u2019 use on a particular day was associated with other health behaviors that same day. Participants were asked questions via smartphone-based surveys such as, \u201cIn the past 24 h, which of the following have you used?\u201d with regard to substances, and \u201cHow many minutes of VIGOROUS leisure time physical activity did you get yesterday?\u201d with examples including running, aerobics and heavy yard work.<\/p>\n
Authors\u2014from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Commerce, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Colorado Boulder\u2014said the study of is \u201camong the first\u201d to use the real-time tracking data, called ecological momentary assessment (EMA), \u201cto examine associations between cannabis use and same-day MVPA, alcohol consumption, and cigarettes smoked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the analysis didn\u2019t compare marijuana users to non-users, the team said their findings supported earlier research that found cannabis consumers were more active.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDaily cannabis use was positively associated with daily\u201d physical activity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe observed positive between- and within-person associations between cannabis use and MVPA aligned with our hypothesis and prior cross-sectional observations that people who use cannabis (vs. non-users) tend to report more minutes of weekly [physical activity, or PA] and have higher accelerometer-measured light PA and MVPA,\u201d they wrote. \u201cHowever observations conflict with findings that showed that current and past cannabis users have lower overall and recreational PA as compared with never users.\u201d<\/p>\n
One reason for the variance might be age of participants, the study notes, also acknowledging that results may \u201cpossibly be influenced by the assessment of exercise instead of overall PA\u201d\u2014which limits direct comparisons between the responses.<\/p>\n
The study doesn\u2019t attempt to provide a definitive explanation of why certain behaviors might be associated with same-day marijuana use, but it points to the possibility that cannabis consumption may increase people\u2019s feelings of reward\u2014whether through exercise or using alcohol or tobacco.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt may be that cannabis use increased [physical activity] enjoyment and\/or subsequent feelings of psychological reward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cMechanisms have been proposed regarding how cannabis use may influence PA participation,\u201d it says, \u201cincluding how cannabis use may increase enjoyment and motivation to be physically active, enhance recovery from PA, and activate the endocannabinoid system and, subsequently, the dopaminergic system\u2014increasing feelings of psychological reward associated with PA.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the finding that individuals who used cannabis were likely to drink more alcohol or smoke more cigarettes, the report says those behaviors may also be due to \u201cmechanisms related to psychological reward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYet, there is nuance to these observations,\u201d the study continues, noting a past study indicating that simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use \u201cwas associated with a greater number of hours feeling high.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther, bidirectionality must be considered,\u201d it adds. \u201cCannabis use could increase the likelihood of alcohol and\/or cigarette smoking, but the inverse could also be true given changes in inhibition and\/or the use of one substance to help address the effects of another substance (e.g. withdrawal).\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cCannabis use is related to increased physical activity, alcohol, and cigarette use.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Someone might use cannabis in an effort to remedy the effects of a hangover, for example, or decide to smoke a joint after downing a few beers when they might otherwise not.<\/p>\n
The research team said health providers might use the new findings as they incorporate more real-time tracking of patient behavior. \u201cHealth professionals could use these data within multiple behavior change interventions that use just-in-time adaptive intervention strategies to deliver health behavior promotion- and substance use cessation-oriented content to individuals reporting higher cannabis use on a given day,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond, as governments legalize cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes, this study offers a good starting point for further mechanistic investigations of how cannabis use may influence other health and substance use behaviors,\u201d the report<\/a> says. \u201cBetter understanding these mechanisms is important when refining multiple behavior change intervention strategies for greatest scalability and maximum public health impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study was supported in part through \u201cthe mobile health shared resource of the Stephenson Cancer Center via an NCI Cancer Center Support Grant,\u201d it says, referring to the National Cancer Institute. One of the authors is also the primary inventor of the platform used to gather the survey data.<\/p>\n
Findings come on the heels of a study published last year showing that contrary to lazy stoner stereotypes, legal medical marijuana \u201cpromotes greater physical activity\u201d in people with chronic medical conditions and that \u201clegal recreational cannabis promotes (even more so) greater physical activity<\/a> in those not experiencing chronic medical conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the U.S. adult population, current cannabis use is significantly associated with higher prevalence of physical activity,\u201d said that paper, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research in October. \u201cThe prevalence of physical activity is significantly greater in U.S. states and territories where cannabis is legalized for recreational and medical purposes (vs. not legal).\u201d<\/p>\n
Authors used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, which consists of national telephone surveys about health-related risks behaviors, chronic health conditions and other matters.<\/p>\n
Similar research using data from Canada found that young to midlife adults were neither more sedentary nor more intensely active after consuming cannabis\u2014though recent marijuana use was associated with a \u201cmarginal increase\u201d in light exercise.<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cOur findings provide evidence against existing concerns that cannabis use independently promotes sedentary behavior and decreases physical activity,\u201d those researchers wrote, adding that \u201cthe stereotypical \u2018lazy stoner\u2019 archetype historically portrayed with chronic cannabis use does not acknowledge the diverse uses of cannabis today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report, published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, drew on data from Canada\u2019s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which, during its 2011\u20132012 and 2013\u20132014 cycles, included information from wrist-worn accelerometers that tracked participants\u2019 physical activity. Participants, who were all between ages 18 and 59, also answered a Drug Use Questionnaire that asked about current and lifetime use of substances such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.<\/p>\n
Another report from last year found that people who use marijuana take more walks on average compared to non-users and e-cigarette users<\/a>. The study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, also found that marijuana consumers are no less likely to engage in basic exercise and strength training compared to non-users.<\/p>\n
In another stereotype-busting study that was published in 2021, researchers found that\u00a0frequent marijuana consumers are actually more likely to be physically active<\/a>\u00a0compared to their non-using counterparts.<\/p>\n
A separate 2019 study found that\u00a0people use cannabis to elevate their workout tend to get a healthier amount of exercise<\/a>. It also concluded that consuming before or after exercising improved the experience and aided in recovery.<\/p>\n
Various other recent findings similarly challenge widely held preconceptions about cannabis users. For example, a report last year concluded that there\u2019s no association between habitual marijuana use and paranoia or decreased motivation<\/a>. The research also found no evidence that marijuana consumption causes a hangover the next day.<\/p>\n
A 2022 study on marijuana and laziness, meanwhile, found\u00a0no difference in apathy or reward-based behavior between people who used cannabis on at least a weekly basis<\/a>\u00a0and non-users. Frequent marijuana consumers, that study found, actually experienced more pleasure than those who abstained.<\/p>\n
Separate\u00a0research published in 2020<\/a>\u00a0found that \u201ccompared to older adult nonusers, older adult cannabis users had lower [body mass index] at the beginning of an exercise intervention study, engaged in more weekly exercise days during the intervention, and were engaging in more exercise-related activities at the conclusion of the intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n
A report published in 2023, meanwhile, examined neurocognitive effects in medical marijuana patients<\/a>, finding that \u201cprescribed medical cannabis may have minimal acute impact on cognitive function among patients with chronic health conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another report, published last March in the journal Current Alzheimer Research, linked marijuana use to lower<\/em>\u00a0odds of subjective cognitive decline (SCD), with\u00a0consumers and patients reporting less confusion and memory loss compared to non-users<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A report published last April that drew on dispensary data found that cancer patients reported being able to think more clearly when using medical marijuana<\/a>. They also said it helped manage pain.<\/p>\n
A separate study of teens and young adults at risk of developing psychotic disorders found that regular\u00a0marijuana use over a two-year period did not trigger early onset of psychosis symptoms<\/a>\u2014contrary to the claims of prohibitionists who argue that cannabis causes mental illness. In fact, it was associated with modest improvements in cognitive functioning and reduced use of other medications.<\/p>\n
\u201cCHR youth who continuously used cannabis had higher neurocognition and social functioning over time, and decreased medication usage, relative to non-users,\u201d authors of that study wrote. \u201cSurprisingly, clinical symptoms improved over time despite the medication decreases.\u201d<\/p>\n
A separate study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) a year ago that looked at data from more than 63 million health insurance beneficiaries found that there\u2019s \u201cno statistically significant increase\u201d in psychosis-related diagnoses<\/a>\u00a0in states that have legalized marijuana compared to those that continue to criminalize cannabis.<\/p>\n
Studies from 2018, meanwhile, found that\u00a0marijuana may actually increase working memory<\/a>\u00a0and that cannabis use\u00a0doesn\u2019t actually change the structure of the brain<\/a>.<\/p>\n
And, contrary to President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s claim that marijuana makes people \u201close IQ points,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) says the results of two longitudinal studies \u201cdid not support a causal relationship between marijuana use and IQ loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Research has shown that people who use cannabis can see declines in verbal ability and general knowledge but that \u201cthose who would use in the future already had lower scores on these measures than those who would not use in the future, and no predictable difference was found between twins when one used marijuana and one did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis suggests that observed IQ declines, at least across adolescence, may be caused by shared familial factors (e.g., genetics, family environment), not by marijuana use itself,\u201d NIDA concluded.<\/p>\n
\nNRA Says Federal Ban On Marijuana Amid State-Level Legalization Has Created \u2018Confusing\u2019 Legal Landscape For Gun Owners<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
The post People Are More Physically Active On Days They Use Marijuana, New Federally Funded Study Shows, Smashing \u2018Lazy Stoner\u2019 Stereotype<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nRead More: People Are More Physically Active On Days They Use Marijuana, New Federally Funded Study Shows, Smashing \u2018Lazy Stoner\u2019 Stereotype<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana\u2014evidence that contradicts the \u201clazy stoner\u201d stereotype\u2014although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes. The paper, by a team of tenContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79754,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79753\/revisions\/79754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}