Frequent Marijuana Consumers Are Actually More Physically Active Than Non-Users, Study Finds, Smashing Stereotypes

In a stereotype-busting new study, researchers found that frequent marijuana consumers are actually more likely to be physically active compared to their non-using counterparts.

For decades, anti-cannabis propaganda has cast marijuana consumers as unmotivated couch potatoes. This government-funded ad is a perfect example:

But a study published in the Harm Reduction Journal on Thursday found the opposite to be true. A nationally representative analysis of accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior showed that people who frequently use marijuana—particularly those aged 40 and older—spend more time engaging in physical activity than non-users do.

“Our findings do not support the mainstream perception of cannabis users as living sedentary lifestyles,” the researchers concluded.

In general, they found that “there’s no significant differences between non-current cannabis users and light, moderate, or frequent cannabis users in minutes per day spent in [sedentary behavior].” The difference came down to the average minutes that each group spent in physical activity.

“After controlling for all covariates, frequent cannabis users engaged in significantly greater amounts of light [physical activity] and [moderate-to-vigorous physical activity] compared to non-current users,” the study states. “In the unadjusted model, moderate cannabis use predicted more minutes spent in [moderate-to-vigorous physical activity] compared to non-current use, but this association was not significant upon controlling for all covariates. Light cannabis users did not significantly differ from non-current users in time engaged in [physical activity.”

“The results suggest that frequent cannabis users engaged in more [physical activity] than non-current users, but spent similar amounts of time in [sedentary behavior],” the researchers said.

While the study indicated that light marijuana use is not associated with a statistically significant difference in time being physically active, those who infrequently use cannabis were more likely to self-report more moderate physical activity compared to non-users.

“In a national, population-based US sample, current cannabis use was significantly associated with accelerometer-measured [physical activity], such that frequent cannabis users engaged in greater minutes of light PA and [moderate-to-vigorous physical activity] compared to non-current users.”

The researchers also looked at the relationship between marijuana use, activity and age, finding that people over 40 who consumed cannabis moderately spent an average of 16 more minutes engaged in moderate physical activity each day than non-users.

To explain that trend, the study suggests that cannabis “is being used for exercise-induced pain recovery, since [physical activity] brings about pain and muscle soreness, and a decreased pain threshold and muscle hypersensitivity have been documented with increasing age.”

These findings “add to the cannabis and physical behavior literature by incorporating objective accelerometer measures,” the researchers concluded. “Further understanding of the association between cannabis use and health behaviors is essential to fully addressing the public health concerns associated with cannabis use.”

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