How Marijuana Affects a Person’s Health
Marijuana has been used for centuries and throughout the years has become the most popular abused drug aside from alcohol. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more teenagers are currently using marijuana than they are smoking cigarettes.
Smoking marijuana often leads to overeating, which can be harmful to your health.
Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that disrupts the chemicals in a person’s brain. Marijuana contains THC, which is the acronym for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. THC affects the part of a user’s brain that controls their pleasure, hunger, mood, perception, coordination, and memory.
Marijuana can negatively affect a person’s health in various ways, the first of which is their lungs. It is a common fact known that cigarette smoke damages a person’s lungs; marijuana smoke also damages a user’s lungs. People who smoke marijuana are more likely to have respiratory illnesses. Marijuana usage has also been proven to cause memory loss in users and cause people to become less active. Moreover, marijuana increases significantly increases a person’s heart rate which can lead to heart palpitations and cardiac arrest.
The effects of marijuana will be different for every user, but once the drug is in a person’s body they cannot stop the effects of the drug from occurring. One effect of marijuana that is common in most users is their increase of appetite.
Ten Marijuana Side Effects that Disrupt a Person’s Eating Habits
When it comes to marijuana a person’s eating habits can be effected in various ways, some of which can be beneficial to people and some are not. Below is a list of ten ways marijuana affects a person’s eating habits.
1) Increases appetite: This can be beneficial to people who are having a difficult time eating, such as when a person has cancer or AIDS.
2) Increases sweet cravings: Although marijuana may increase a person’s appetite, the majority of people crave sweets when they smoke marijuana, and this can lead to a person becoming overweight and not receiving the proper nutrients their body needs.
3) Forgetfulness: Marijuana impairs a user’s memory and depending on the type of marijuana smoked, a person may forget to eat or drink which will deprive them of essential nutrients and vitamins.
4) Eating too much: A person who is high on marijuana may eat too much food for their body due to their increase of appetite, this can lead to digestive problems.
5) Lack of motivation: Marijuana users typically do not have much motivation to do anything active, which includes cooking. This means that a person may choose to eat fast food when they are under the influence of the drug, even if they never eat fast food.
6) Craving for junk food: Aside from sweets, junk food such as chips and fatty foods are typically consumed by people who smoke marijuana.
7) Spending money: People who are high may not care about their finances and will eat out instead of preparing a meal for themselves.
8) Marijuana first: If a person is addicted to marijuana they may choose to purchase the drug over buying food for themselves if they are low on money.
9) Apathy: Marijuana affects a person’s brain chemicals and can cause them to feel apathetic to things that used to be important to them, such as healthy eating habits.
10) Lack of exercise: A person who used to exercise and burn calories may not do so if they begin to use marijuana, which can lead to weight gain and obesity.