A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana—evidence that contradicts the “lazy stoner” stereotype—although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes.
The paper, by a team of ten researchers from across the U.S., was published by the journal Addictive Behaviors late last month. It used data from a four-week nationwide study of 98 adults over the age of 18 that tracked behaviors such as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as consumption of controlled substances.
Only people who reported marijuana use on at least one of the 28 days were included, allowing the team to assess how past-month cannabis consumers’ use on a particular day was associated with other health behaviors that same day. Participants were asked questions via smartphone-based surveys such as, “In the past 24 h, which of the following have you used?” with regard to substances, and “How many minutes of VIGOROUS leisure time physical activity did you get yesterday?” with examples including running, aerobics and heavy yard work.
Authors—from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Commerce, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Colorado Boulder—said the study of is “among the first” to use the real-time tracking data, called ecological momentary assessment (EMA), “to examine associations between cannabis use and same-day MVPA, alcohol consumption, and cigarettes smoked.”
Though the analysis didn’t compare marijuana users to non-users, the team said their findings supported earlier research that found cannabis consumers were more active.
“Daily cannabis use was positively associated with daily” physical activity.
“The observed positive between- and within-person associations between cannabis use and MVPA aligned with our hypothesis and prior cross-sectional observations that people who use cannabis (vs. non-users) tend to report more minutes of weekly [physical activity, or PA] and have higher accelerometer-measured light PA and MVPA,” they wrote. “However observations conflict with findings that showed that current and past cannabis users have lower overall and recreational PA as compared with never users.”
One reason for the variance might be age of participants, the study notes, also acknowledging that results may “possibly be influenced by the assessment of exercise instead of overall PA”—which limits direct comparisons between the responses.
The study doesn’t attempt to provide a definitive explanation of why certain behaviors might be associated with same-day marijuana use, but it points to the possibility that cannabis consumption may increase people’s feelings of reward—whether through exercise or using alcohol or tobacco.
“It may be that cannabis use increased [physical activity] enjoyment and/or subsequent feelings of psychological reward.”
“Mechanisms have been proposed regarding how cannabis use may influence PA participation,” it says, “including how cannabis use may increase enjoyment and motivation to be physically active, enhance recovery from PA, and activate the endocannabinoid system and, subsequently, the dopaminergic system—increasing feelings of psychological reward associated with PA.”
As for the finding that individuals who used cannabis were likely to drink more alcohol or smoke more cigarettes, the report says those behaviors may also be due to “mechanisms related to psychological reward.”
“Yet, there is nuance to these observations,” the study continues, noting a past study indicating that simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use “was associated with a greater number of hours feeling high.”
“Further, bidirectionality must be considered,” it adds. “Cannabis use could increase the likelihood of alcohol and/or cigarette smoking, but the inverse could also be true given changes in inhibition and/or the use of one substance to help address the effects of another substance (e.g. withdrawal).”
“Cannabis use is related to increased physical activity, alcohol, and cigarette use.”
Someone might use cannabis in an effort to remedy the effects of a hangover, for example, or decide to smoke a joint after downing a few beers when they might otherwise not.
The research team said health providers might use the new findings as they incorporate more real-time tracking of patient behavior. “Health professionals could use these data within multiple behavior change interventions that use just-in-time adaptive intervention strategies to deliver health behavior promotion- and substance use cessation-oriented content to individuals reporting higher cannabis use on a given day,” they wrote.
“Second, as governments legalize cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes, this study offers a good starting point for further mechanistic investigations of how cannabis use may influence other health and substance use behaviors,” the report says. “Better understanding these mechanisms is important when refining multiple behavior change intervention strategies for greatest scalability and maximum public health impact.”
The study was supported in part through “the mobile health shared resource of the Stephenson Cancer Center via an NCI Cancer Center Support Grant,” it says, referring to the National Cancer Institute. One of the authors is also the primary inventor of the platform used to gather the survey data.
Findings come on the heels of a study published last year showing that contrary to lazy stoner stereotypes, legal medical marijuana “promotes greater physical activity” in people with chronic medical conditions and that “legal recreational cannabis promotes (even more so) greater physical activity in those not experiencing chronic medical conditions.”
“In the U.S. adult population, current cannabis use is significantly associated with higher prevalence of physical activity,” said that paper, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research in October. “The prevalence of physical activity is significantly greater in U.S. states and territories where cannabis is legalized for recreational and medical purposes (vs. not legal).”
Authors used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, which consists of national telephone surveys about health-related risks behaviors, chronic health conditions and other matters.
Similar research using data from Canada found that young to midlife adults were neither more sedentary nor more intensely active after consuming cannabis—though recent marijuana use was associated with a “marginal increase” in light exercise.
“Our findings provide evidence against existing concerns that cannabis use independently promotes sedentary behavior and decreases physical activity,” those researchers wrote, adding that “the stereotypical ‘lazy stoner’ archetype historically portrayed with chronic cannabis use does not acknowledge the diverse uses of cannabis today.”
The report, published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, drew on data from Canada’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which, during its 2011–2012 and 2013–2014 cycles, included information from wrist-worn accelerometers that tracked participants’ physical activity. Participants, who were all between ages 18 and 59, also answered a Drug Use Questionnaire that asked about current and lifetime use of substances such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
Another report from last year found that people who use marijuana take more walks on average compared to non-users and e-cigarette users. The study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, also found that marijuana consumers are no less likely to engage in basic exercise and strength training compared to non-users.
In another stereotype-busting study that was published in 2021, researchers found that frequent marijuana consumers are actually more likely to be physically active compared to their non-using counterparts.
A separate 2019 study found that people use cannabis to elevate their workout tend to get a healthier amount of exercise. It also concluded that consuming before or after exercising improved the experience and aided in recovery.
Various other recent findings similarly challenge widely held preconceptions about cannabis users. For example, a report last year concluded that there’s no association between habitual marijuana use and paranoia or decreased motivation. The research also found no evidence that marijuana consumption causes a hangover the next day.
A 2022 study on marijuana and laziness, meanwhile, found no difference in apathy or reward-based behavior between people who used cannabis on at least a weekly basis and non-users. Frequent marijuana consumers, that study found, actually experienced more pleasure than those who abstained.
Separate research published in 2020 found that “compared to older adult nonusers, older adult cannabis users had lower [body mass index] at the beginning of an exercise intervention study, engaged in more weekly exercise days during the intervention, and were engaging in more exercise-related activities at the conclusion of the intervention.”
A report published in 2023, meanwhile, examined neurocognitive effects in medical marijuana patients, finding that “prescribed medical cannabis may have minimal acute impact on cognitive function among patients with chronic health conditions.”
Another report, published last March in the journal Current Alzheimer Research, linked marijuana use to lower odds of subjective cognitive decline (SCD), with consumers and patients reporting less confusion and memory loss compared to non-users.
A report published last April that drew on dispensary data found that cancer patients reported being able to think more clearly when using medical marijuana. They also said it helped manage pain.
A separate study of teens and young adults at risk of developing psychotic disorders found that regular marijuana use over a two-year period did not trigger early onset of psychosis symptoms—contrary to the claims of prohibitionists who argue that cannabis causes mental illness. In fact, it was associated with modest improvements in cognitive functioning and reduced use of other medications.
“CHR youth who continuously used cannabis had higher neurocognition and social functioning over time, and decreased medication usage, relative to non-users,” authors of that study wrote. “Surprisingly, clinical symptoms improved over time despite the medication decreases.”
A separate study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) a year ago that looked at data from more than 63 million health insurance beneficiaries found that there’s “no statistically significant increase” in psychosis-related diagnoses in states that have legalized marijuana compared to those that continue to criminalize cannabis.
Studies from 2018, meanwhile, found that marijuana may actually increase working memory and that cannabis use doesn’t actually change the structure of the brain.
And, contrary to President-elect Donald Trump’s claim that marijuana makes people “lose IQ points,” the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) says the results of two longitudinal studies “did not support a causal relationship between marijuana use and IQ loss.”
Research has shown that people who use cannabis can see declines in verbal ability and general knowledge but that “those who would use in the future already had lower scores on these measures than those who would not use in the future, and no predictable difference was found between twins when one used marijuana and one did not.”
“This suggests that observed IQ declines, at least across adolescence, may be caused by shared familial factors (e.g., genetics, family environment), not by marijuana use itself,” NIDA concluded.
A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana—evidence that contradicts the “lazy stoner” stereotype—although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes. The paper, by a team of ten researchers from across the U.S., Read More
