What Are the Health Benefits of Regular Cannabis Use?

You’ve likely heard that cannabis is linked to health benefits before, but do you know what those are?

There are many different perks of ingesting weed. That’s why medical marijuana exists. If there weren’t significant benefits to consuming it, then there’d be no reason to create a medicinal field around it.

While there are indisputable advantages of smoking cannabis, many use it recreationally to get high. Weed has psychoactive effects, so it’s important to establish your minimum effective dose if you’re only interested in the health benefits. 

Let’s take a look at what these benefits are so you can determine if marijuana is right for you. 

Pain Relief

Arguably the most cited benefit of cannabis is the relief of chronic pain. 

This doesn’t work for something like stubbing your toe or smacking your funny bone. This is referred to as acute pain, which doesn’t see much relief from marijuana use.

Instead, it’s effective for long-lasting pain that you’ve felt for longer than a month. This could be discomfort in your lower back, persistent headaches, or achy joints. 

While this won’t cure the cause of your pain, it’s incredibly effective for managing the suffering that you feel.

When your body feels better and has less overall pain, it’s much easier to get through your day and complete tasks that would otherwise be extremely difficult.

Reduces Anxiety

Another excellent perk is reduced anxiety, although this is a very slippery slope. Consuming too much cannabis can have the opposite effect, making you feel anxious and paranoid. 

On the other hand, moderate marijuana use can be effective in treating persistent anxiety. 

This doesn’t necessarily work for social anxiety, but it’s great for general anxiety that doesn’t have an easily identifiable cause. If you wake up and feel anxious from the moment you get out of bed, this is where cannabis can serve as an anxiety remedy.

If you’re using weed to treat your anxiety, you must stick to low doses. Even better, look for strains with a high concentration of CBD in them.

CBD is closely related to weed as it is one of cannabinoids present in the marijuana plant. THC is the cannabinoid responsible for psychoactive effects, like feeling high, but CBD is typically associated with positive health benefits.

Because of this, you’re better off using strains with high CBD content or even pure CBD strains to handle your anxiety.

Combats Nausea

Cannabis use is also extremely effective in reducing any feelings of nausea. This goes hand-in-hand with regulating your appetite. 

If you’re someone who feels nauseous often, especially after waking up, consuming marijuana can be a great way to fix this. Additionally, marijuana is directly linked to making you feel hungry. Ever heard of the munchies?

When you don’t feel nauseous and your hunger is stimulated, then it will be much easier for you to eat and function. Nausea is a fairly minor ailment, but it can be extremely debilitating. 

While smoking weed can make you cough and even feel a little sick at first, these effects will quickly fade and be replaced with a lack of nausea. 

Promotes Sleep

Frequent cannabis use is also fantastic for helping you sleep. 

There are two primary ways that this works. 

First, you can use a strain that produces Indica-like effects. Indica strains are associated with nighttime use because they relax your body and promote sleep. 

Alternatively, you can use any strain of cannabis and wait for the psychoactive effects to fade. When you don’t feel high anymore, it’s easy to feel drowsy and dozing off sounds like a great idea.

If you’ve ever drank alcohol before and noticed the effects beginning to fade, then you probably felt pretty tired afterward. Cannabis use is similar, minus the negative effects on the quality of your sleep.

Alcohol-induced sleeping has been linked to poor quality sleep, whereas cannabis is fantastic at promoting your natural sleep cycle. For this reason, a bowl before bed, especially of an Indica strain, can serve as an excellent natural sleep aid.

Fights Substance Abuse

Speaking of alcohol, cannabis is also amazing at fighting any issues with substance addiction or abuse. This particularly applies to alcohol and opioids. 

Weed does have psychoactive effects and it will get you high, but the negative effects are fairly minor and it’s much healthier for your body.

People that have problems with alcohol and opioids understand this and find relief in smoking marijuana. They still feel a high from weed, although it will certainly be different from what they experience when using opioids or drinking alcohol.

Many people that suffer from substance addiction need to feel high and weed will provide this in a safer format.

Eases Suffering From Specific Conditions

One final health benefit of cannabis is that it can help ease the suffering of very specific conditions.

Here are a few health conditions that become more manageable when using marijuana:

• Parkinson’s Disease
• Seizure Disorders
• Arthritis
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Chron’s Disease
• Schizophrenia
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Glaucoma
• Cancer
• Multiple Sclerosis

While cannabis does not treat these conditions, it alleviates the suffering associated with them. For example, someone who has Parkinson’s Disease may experience fewer tremors and someone with Arthritis will have less joint pain. 

The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is still being researched, but it has been shown to provide relief in many patients that suffer from these conditions and diseases. In the future, there’s a great possibility that it will be used for several other conditions as well.

Closing Thoughts

While many marijuana users enjoy partaking for recreational use, there are undeniable health benefits that make it an excellent medicinal tool.

If you’re looking to cannabis for its health benefits, consider strains high in CBD for less psychoactive effects and greater relief.

We mentioned six amazing health advantages of marijuana above, including pain relief, lowered anxiety levels, elimination of nausea, better sleep, serving as an alternative to substance abuse, and being a great tool for managing the suffering of specific health conditions.

Everyone’s experience with weed will certainly vary, but you have a great chance of experiencing health benefits if you find a good strain that your body agrees with. Remember that moderation is key to avoiding dependency and will help you enjoy each time that you toke up!