According to a new study published in the scientific journal Preventative Medicine Reports, people who consume marijuana walk more than people who don’t consume marijuana, and they exercise just as much as their non-consuming counterparts. Head below to learn more.
In an attempt to challenge the stereotype that people who consume marijuana are less active, researchers from The University of Texas and Ohio University analyzed data from 2,591 adults who had, from 2016-2018, participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.
The study, titled “The association between marijuana and e-cigarette use and exercise behavior among adults,” published in Preventative Medicine Reports, found that results:
…indicated that participants’ marijuana and e-cigarette use predicted their walking for exercise, with marijuana users walking the highest number of times per week, followed by non-users, e-cigarette users, and dual users. However, this effect only approached significance after controlling for covariates. There were no significant differences in strength training or general exercise between groups.
This is great news for anyone who enjoys a gummy or the hit of a joint prior to hitting the pavement – not only did the study find that those consumers walk more than people who don’t ingest marijuana, but when it came to strength training or “general exercise,” there was no significant difference between the two groups, which means that people who consume marijuana exercise just as much as those who don’t.
Researchers noted that their study was the first of its kind in examining exercise behavior “among marijuana and e-cigarette users in a nationally representative sample of US adults.” The researchers also see the correlation between consuming marijuana and walking or exercising as a trend rather than a “significant association,” and highlight in the study that the reason marijuana consumers walk more than non-consumers may be because more people are using cannabis for motivation and enjoyment of exercise.
There are also those who live in cities with better and more accessible public transport:
People who live in large American cities—which tend to be in states where medical and recreational marijuana are legal—also tend to use public transport and walk more.
We reported last month on another study that tested 49 runners and found that getting high can increase motivation prior to a run and that consuming marijiana makes the entire workout more enjoyable.
Connect the Watts’ Take
As researchers and scientists across the country continue to study and learn more about the connection between marijuana consumption and exercise, perhaps the stigma surrounding marijuana consumers as lazy and inactive will finally start to subside.
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