As modern-day cannabis research persists, studies have increasingly shed light on prevailing stereotypes of cannabis users, those persistent attitudes that cannabis makes people lazy and unmotivated.
Given the increased accessibility of cannabis in the United States and beyond, it’s now clear that there is no fixed demographic when it comes to cannabis use. The research shows it, too, regularly concluding that cannabis may actually fit in nicely with those pursuing a more active lifestyle.
One of the most recent studies to examine this relationship was published last week in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, measuring the physical activity and sedentary behavior among young-to-midlife adults and confirming that cannabis use is actually associated with a marginal increase in daily light physical activity (LPA).
‘The Largest Cohort’ to Study Cannabis Use, Physical Activity
Researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2014 to investigate the relationship between cannabis and physical activity.
The study included U.S. adults aged 18 to 59 who responded to the questionnaire and had at least four days of activity data using wrist-worn accelerometers to track physical activity.
The findings drew data from 4,666 adults, 658 (14.1%) of which reported cannabis use within the past 30 days. Researchers said that it is “the largest cohort in which the relationship between cannabis use and physical activity has been studied.”
The accelerometer data found few differences in sleep or physical activity between people who did and did not use cannabis over the past month. While there were also no differences found between groups in daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time, daily time spent doing LPA was higher among recent cannabis users.
However, the difference is minimal, as those who used cannabis in the past month had 102 minutes of light physical activity per day versus 99 minutes for those without past-month …
Read More
Author: Keegan Williams / High Times
