Cannabis consumers wake up with more ‘stress hormone’

Cannabis is commonly used by many to help relieve stress.

But the study suggests that while weed may provide some short-term stress relief, chronic use might negatively affect stress-response systems over time — leading people into a cycle of more drug use.

Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) discovered that people who often use cannabis start their day with higher levels of cortisol than people who don't.

They say their findings, published in the journal Cannabis, indicate a relationship between frequent use of the drug and a possible "dysregulation" of the body's daily stress rhythms.

The study is one of the first to examine the link between frequent cannabis use and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the major system that governs the body's response to stress.

Almost three in 10 adults aged 19 to 30 in the U.S. (29%) report having used cannabis in the previous 30 days, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past 15 years.

Over 10% of that age group report using cannabis 20 or more times in 30 days — more than twice the percentage seen 15 years ago.

Study leader Anita Cservenka, of OSU's College of Liberal Arts, emphasized that the research doesn't prove frequent cannabis use causes people to wake up with higher cortisol levels, or vice versa.

She said: "We would need to study the same groups of people over a longer period of time to understand any cause and effect relationship, but we think this provides an important starting point."

Cservenka explained that hormones are the body's chemical messengers and cortisol is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands.

Nicknamed the "stress hormone" because it is released when people find themselves under pressure, cortisol assists in fighting infection, maintaining blood pressure and regulating blood sugar and metabolism.

Cservenka says cortisol is beneficial for dealing with stress in the short term.

But prolonged periods of high cortisol levels can have harmful effects on the body, such as an increased risk of anxiety, depression and heart disease.

Cservenka and her colleagues centered their cannabis-cortisol study around what's commonly known as CAR, or cannabis awakening response.

She said: "CAR is the cortisol rise that all people experience in the morning, peaking around 30 minutes after they wake up."

CAR is calculated by measuring someone's cortisol right after they wake up, measuring it again 30 minutes later, then subtracting the first number from the second number.

The difference is considered a marker of the body's ability to prepare for the stressors of the day.

The research team found CAR to be similar among both cannabis users and nonusers, but they found cannabis users had a higher "starting point" — waking up with more cortisol circulating through their bodies.

Cservenka said: "Our research suggests cortisol levels upon awakening may serve as a neurobiological marker of problematic cannabis use, and that connection needs to be investigated further.

"Earlier studies by other researchers found CAR to be blunted in frequent cannabis users, but we didn't replicate that finding, which suggests there is a lot of nuance that could be related to analytic strategies and sample characteristics."

She added: "It's reasonable to think that individuals who use cannabis often may have impairments in their daily stress rhythms – and that a dysregulated stress system could in turn lead individuals into a cycle of more cannabis use."