Does Cannabis Change Your Brain Chemistry?
When THC is introduced into our system, it takes control of our endocannabinoid system (ECS)—a complex natural system that works to balance our internal state. When you use cannabis, it disrupts the production of cannabinoids in the brain. Your brain was wired a particular way to produce its own, “cannabis-like,” chemicals through the endocannabinoid system and can actually be programmed to expect assistance from an outside source. Only when you expect assistance will the brain decrease production, similar to a friend who always brings coffee—you won’t carry around a thermos if someone is going to be there with coffee.
The Tolerance Reality
Remember when half a joint would send you to another dimension? Your brain responds to repeated THC by literally decreasing cannabinoid receptors. As a result, you require more cannabis to get the same effect. This happens in a matter of weeks, but if you take a tolerance break you can restore those receptors like a renovation crew who was working overtime.
Memory & The Foggy Factor
THC causes temporary disruption to the hippocampus—our memory center—making it difficult to encode new memories. This is why you can forget something mid-sentence or lose your keys for the fifth time that day. Users who consume cannabis long-term often report a foggy feeling, even when sober. In their sober state, recall ability was significantly affected, and working memory and attention were often compromised too. Adolescent brains in particular have greater effects and prolonged changes than adult brains, which are mostly set in established pathways, but still developing.
Mood Chemistry Changes
Cannabis impacts your mood chemistry by changing dopamine—the body’s reward chemical—functioning. Many people find that cannabis helps with anxiety and depression, but their baselines have been interrupted and can be re-established as a dependence on cannabis for mood-altering qualities. When the high wears off, normal feelings can appear flattened, yelling “normal” feelings in comparison, and you have to smoke more to achieve the same reaction that was once experienced on less or preferably, none to begin with.
The Sleep Equation
Cannabis acts to decrease REM sleep (dream sleep) the state of typified dreams and memory consolidation if you are woken up. Most people who smoke cannabis report little-no dreaming; in fact, when they take a tolerance break they account for some of the best and most intense dreams as a result of the rebound of REM sleep. No REM sleep clearly does not excite corresponding brain health; poor quality sleep clears metabolic waste product while quality sleep leads to memory consolidation. You can imagine how the absence of quality sleep can complicate your brain health picture.
Why Is This Different for You?
Cannabis is affected by some genetic factors. Some people may metabolize THC faster than others; some people may have more available receptors (or they may be more sensitive); and how you process the compound could also differ from others with more experience. Therefore, it is easy to see how your friend can engage with relatively no consequence while you are altering your existence. Age is a factor here as well—but mainly because adolescent brains change more than resilient adult brains with established pathways.
The Bounce Back
Most exciting is that these changes to brain chemistry are mostly reversible because of neuroplasticity of the brain. Brain imaging studies have demonstrated former heavy users returning to baseline receptor density and cognitive function with an extended recovery period. Many users will comment to report improvement of memory, attention, and mood improvements with as little as one month of abstinence. Sleep can return to normal in several weeks, but adjustment is also likely to be difficult as your brain relearns how to produce its own balance of natural neurotransmitters.
The impacts on brain chemistry from cannabis are real, but can range from mild/temporary to more severe, depending on usage style and frequency, biology, and age of first usage. Your brain is continually adapting to newly introduced chemicals.