Everything you need to know about the way cannabis affects your brain

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From the relationship between cannabis and creativity to the effects of cannabis on teenage brains, here are 9 important questions about marijuana answered

By Corryn Wetzel

18 December 2023

Our Science of cannabis series has been investigating some of the biggest questions about the drug
Iryna Yablonska/Shutterstock

With cannabis use rising around the world, questions about how the drug interacts with our brain are becoming ever more important. Can marijuana improve our sleep? Boost creative thinking? Make food taste better?聽

In our Science of cannabis series, we interrogate the biggest and boldest claims about the drug. We topple common myths about cannabis (sorry, lighting up before bed probably won鈥檛 help you sleep better) and uncover areas of promise, like quelling some forms of pain and nausea.聽

The series also explores how the brain interacts with cannabis鈥檚 psychoactive compound THC, with sometimes life-long consequences. Marijuana can disrupt how young brains develop 鈥� but in older adults, it can boost the neural connections associated with memory and learning.聽

Here are some highlights from the series:

Does cannabis boost creativity?

Users may feel cannabis boosts their creativity

People feel more creative after using cannabis 鈥� they aren鈥檛

There is no strong evidence that taking cannabis improves our ingenuity, although it does make users feel more creative

Can cannabis improve your quality of sleep?

Cannabis probably doesn鈥檛 help you sleep better

Many people take cannabis to help them sleep, but there is little evidence that the drug makes a difference

Does being high make you forgetful?

magnetic resonance imaging, MRI MRT head

Cannabis derails train of thought, but may not affect long-term memory

Cannabis interferes with the working memory we use to keep track of what we are doing, but whether the drug causes long-lasting memory impairments is less clear

Why does time seem to slow down when you鈥檙e high?

Artists representation of cannabis and time

Time seems to slow down when you鈥檙e high 鈥� why does that happen?

Cannabis does strange things to our sense of time passing, possibly by over-exciting neurons in a brain region that helps regulate our body clock

Can cannabis relieve pain?

Illustration of cannabis as a painkiller

Cannabis can relieve pain short-term, but we still don鈥檛 know how

There is some evidence that cannabis is an effective short-term pain-reliever but long-term users may experience more pain

Is cannabis linked to psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia?

How strong is the link between cannabis and schizophrenia?

Psychiatrist Deepak D鈥橲ouza says we are finally beginning to understand the relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia, including which drug users are most at risk

Does smoking versus eating edibles make a difference?

recreational marijuana with gummy bears on a pink background; Shutterstock ID 1649008399; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Vaping vs edibles: How does the way we use cannabis alter its effects?

Edibles, vapes and joints all contain the same psychoactive compounds, but the effects they have on the body vary

How does cannabis influence a growing brain?

Cannabis can harm young brains but may improve learning in older age

There is growing evidence that cannabis use may disrupt adolescent brain development, but in older adults it seems to lead to more neural connections in brain regions associated with memory and learning

Why do you get hungry when you鈥檙e high?

Why does weed give you the 鈥榤unchies鈥�? Here鈥檚 what the science says

There may be several reasons why cannabis encourages people to eat, including the fact that the psychoactive compound in the drug affects the neurons that control hunger

Topics: Cannabis

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