Science Found One Thing Weed Does To Your Brain That Actually Kind Of Sucks
Potheads are taking a hit.
Smoking weed is notorious for helping you relax.
Most people smoke pot to chill out and more importantly, to help relieve stress and anxiety. Business Insider reports that even science says lighting up helps slow the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Multiple health benefits aside, new research from a study conducted by the University of Michigan shows that there is one thing weed does that negatively effects human behavior in the long term.
The study shows the brain's reward system changing under the influence of marijuana.
The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, demonstrates how the brain's reward system is altered after someone smokes marijuana.
Senior author of the study, Mary Heitzeg, PhD said that over time, an extended use of marijuana was associated with a lower response to an excited reward such as money.
"This means that something that would be rewarding to most people was no longer rewarding to them, suggesting but not proving that their reward system has been hijacked by the drug, and that they need the drug to feel reward or that their emotional response has been dampened," Heitzeg said.
Over 100 people in their early 20's participated in the study.
The study wasn't messing around, either.
The brains of participants were monitored in an MRI scanner while they played a game that encouraged them to click a button when a target appeared on a screen. Participants were told that before each round there was a possibility they could win a small amount of money, lose money, or gain or lose nothing.
Researchers wanted to see what happened to participants brains when they were presented with a monetary reward.
Researchers said that with the prospect of a positive outcome such as a monetary reward, participants brains should have been flooding with dopamine—this was not the case for those participants who said they used marijuana.
The results were consistent, as researchers saw continuous subdued responses in the brains of pot smokers when they were either promised or given a reward.
Researchers emphasized that it wasn't that the participants who used marijuana didn't care about the reward, but those participants did show less brain activity when presented with an award compared to non-smokers.
Perhaps we can construe this study as marijuana enabling pot smokers to be less greedy?
That's one way to look at it.
While being more cool, calm, and collected when it comes to rewards such as money may seem like healthy approach in a day and age where people would do just about anything for some extra cash, anything that alters the brain can be a bit scary.
On the other hand, it might be pretty funny to watch a stoner win the lottery.