Whether
you’re weight lifting or marathon-style running, smoking marijuana
changes the game a bit. And with marijuana becoming legal in Oregon
recently, it seems appropriate to share a little information on how
cannabis affects your exercise endeavors.
On a microscopic level,
our bodies work similar to a lock and key mechanism. The keys, or
compounds, float around in the blood until they meet their specific
lock, or receptor, which is usually anchored to a specific body part.
When they meet, the receptor “unlocks” and triggers something to happen
inside our body.
An easy example to help us understand this
concept is insulin. Insulin is a key that floats in the blood, and when
it meets its receptor, the result is a decrease in blood sugar.
The
“keys” in marijuana are known as cannabinoids. The two main
cannabinoids are tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and the less well-known
cannabidiol, or CBD. They bind to and activate cannabinoid receptors 1
and 2 (CB1 and CB2) in our brain and body.
Some
research shows that after we weight lift, the CB1 receptor gets turned
off, and this leads to a major muscle-growth hormone being released. The
hormone is called mTOR, if you’re curious, and it's one of the primary
hormones responsible for muscle growth.
Muscle growth = CB1 not activated, smoking weed = CB1 activated. You can see the problem here.
And
if you need a cherry on top, here it is: After smoking, testosterone
levels decrease and cortisol levels increase. Testosterone is another
primary hormone responsible for muscle growth, and cortisol is a primary
hormone responsible for breaking muscle down.
So, probably not
the best idea to smoke before or after lifting. But what about other
types of exercise, like running or swimming? How does pot use affect us
there?
The research is pretty clear on this one. Cannabis use
increases time to fatigue, meaning it makes you tired faster. Instead of
gassing out after 30 minutes of jogging or swimming, you might gas out
after 20 instead.
Whether you’re racing or just working out, that can
have a significant impact on your efforts.
Additionally, marijuana
decreases reaction time, hand-eye coordination and interrupts
concentration. In sport, all three of those are absolutely critical to
playing at your highest level.
And don’t think you’re off the hook soccer players: if hand-eye coordination is decreased, foot-eye coordination likely is to.
But
aside from sport, a decrease in reaction time, coordination and
concentration is a great recipe for injury.
You may lose just enough
control of your body to tweak this or that — or, God forbid, tear or
break something. Not to mention, a decrease in reaction time and
concentration can have a deadly impact if you choose to smoke and drive.
So,
it’s pretty safe to say that cannabis decreases athletic and exercise
performance in every way, and it’s not something that is likely to
increase performance.
In all fairness, however, there may be
something to say for the psychological effects of marijuana. Smoking
marijuana decreases stress and anxiety, and if the negative effects of
being stressed out over a big game outweigh the negative physiological
effects of smoking (everything mentioned above), then it may be
beneficial.
But, in any other scenario, smoking cannabis isn’t going to help.
Additionally,
these effects have been shown to last up to 36 hours after use. So,
just don’t use marijuana before or after a workout or game, right? Not
so fast.
The cannabinoids (THC and CBD) are stored in our body’s
fat cells. So, even if you haven’t smoked in a while, you might still
have some THC and CBD stored in your fat cells. As we burn fat, like
when we exercise, those compounds are released into our bloodstream.
That’s either pretty interesting, or pretty scary, depending on your
history with marijuana!
But just like we know drinking alcohol and
eating Snickers bars isn’t going to help our “gains,” occasional or
recreational use of marijuana probably isn’t going to negate hard work
in the gym either.
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