Contributor: Eric Bloom
We’ve all had that moment when we’ve over consumed cannabis. No big deal, this sort of thing happens all the time. So, no judgment or anything. But when this happens, it can be a bit troublesome in the moment. However, as long as you remain calm, everything will be completely fine. But it does make you wonder about the physical effects of marijuana.
Also, when these moments happen, we often recognize that our heart rate has increased a great deal. But how much can marijuana increase a person’s heart rate? It’s a very important question that we all should be familiar with. I mean, at the end of the day, the more you know about marijuana, and how it directly affects your body, the easier it’ll be for you to calm back down during those periods of panicked overconsumption.
The first thing that needs to be known is, yes, cannabis use, specifically, THC can increase the heart rate of the consumer. Which, I’m sure is already a bit of common knowledge. I mean, personally speaking, I’ve always been conscious of the increase in my heart rate that accompanies a solid high. It’s never worrisome or painful, it’s akin to how you feel after a light jog, if that. To be honest, it’s barely noticeable, and I’m sure the same could be said about the average cannabis enthusiast.
To get down to the nitty-gritty of the whole heart rate ordeal, you can expect the THC present in your smoke session to be the reason why your heart rate goes up by 20-50 bpm. Which is just a quick way of saying “Beats Per Minute.” This doesn’t just happen for no reason, though. There’s a logical explanation behind this increase in heart rate, and it has everything to do with your blood pressure.
See, when you smoke cannabis, one of its main goals is to lower your blood pressure. Which, in turn, calms you down a touch. And who doesn’t love to mellow out every now and then? I know I certainly do.
However, as a result of these lowered blood pressure levels, your body starts to respond organically to the change in circumstances. And, in doing so, it feels obligated to compensate for the dip in blood pressure, by increasing your heart’s beats per minute.
Now, even though it’s only recently become a trend in the cannabis community, it appears as though there’s a myriad of positive benefits that occur when one takes on the routine of microdosing their cannabis. For those who are unaware with “microdosing,” it’s essentially exactly what it sounds like. It’s the partaking of less THC at a time, and allowing that minimal amount to work to the best of its ability to “get you where you need to be.”
This became a trend for a multitude of reasons, most of which were based on saving money, but there seems to be a wealth of health benefits from microdosing, as well. For starters, doctors and scientists have discovered that lower doses of THC actually have a powerfully positive effect on one’s cardiovascular health.
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Now, you’re probably thinking that’s a counterproductive result. If a lower dose of THC is showing positive results, especially when compared to higher doses of THC, that would only stand to reason that no cannabis at all would be even better, right?
Well, not necessarily.
While that logic is fairly sound, there’s an actual scientific (and medical) reason that explains this phenomenon a bit better. You see, when the consumer takes in larger doses of THC at a time, that proves to be too much for that person’s CB1 receptors to handle all at once. As a result of that, the CB2 receptors don’t even come into play, due to that overwhelming amount of THC, and subsequently, that can negatively affect the cardiovascular health of that particular cannabis enthusiast.
Conversely, a little bit is just enough for the CB1 and CB2 receptors to take on, and they, in turn, work together to better your overall cardiovascular situation. So, it’s all about finding the right balance between quantity and quality, when it comes to microdosing. But, at least it appears to have some seriously positive effects on your heart rate. And, at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.
Let’s take a look at CBD for a moment, to examine how it affects your heart rate and whatnot when compared to its more psychoactive cannabinoid counterpart, THC.
As you probably already assume, CBD, and its plethora of positive, medicinal effects is great for your cardiovascular health. For example, let’s say you go to your doctor for a standard physical, but upon being there, they unfortunately discover that you suffer from a couple risk factors that could ultimately lead to a serious heart condition.
No worries.
CBD, and it’s healing properties can actually help those risk factors become a thing of the past. In addition to that, CBD has been seen to help in the recovery of a heart condition, as well. Now, to be fair, those results have only been proven in mice up to this point, but as scientists are allowed to gain further, more detailed data on cannabis, and its effect on a person’s heart rate, the more solidified that theory will be.
Look, I understand that even talking about heart issues can raise your sitting beats per minute in anxiety. I completely get that, but it’s vital that we understand how our bodies react to this wonderful herb. The more we know, the better off we’ll be.
And it goes double for anything pertaining to the heart.
SEE ALSO: New To Marijuana? Here’s How Cannabis Can Alter Your Mental State
Good news is that very few heart diseases or ailments are even attributed to cannabis use. That is, unless it’s a dangerously lethal synthetic version of it, like Spice or K2. Those rip-off street drugs are insanely harmful, and you should steer clear of them at all costs.
However, when you run through the medical records and journals available, you’ll come to find that only a mere 2% of cardiovascular events are even remotely related to marijuana. So, the numbers are in your favor, but that still means you should educate yourself on the issue.
Stay healthy, my fellow enthusiasts!
