Login

5 harmful things that happen to your body when you take cannabis

Cannabis consumption can turn out to be extremely harmful to your health in these five ways.
Read on to understand the side-effects of cannabis consumption. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Grace Bains Updated: 8 Jun 2021, 16:49 pm IST
OPEN APP

Over the past years, cannabis consumption has become widespread. In India alone, 7.2 million reportedly used it, according to a 2019 survey by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. In fact, in some countries, it is prescribed to patients for its medicinal properties like pain management.

What is cannabis?

Cannabis is basically a plant that is known for its psychoactive properties. Its leaves are harvested and dried for consumption. The consumable form is known by many terms, such as ‘pot’, ‘weed’ and ‘marijuana.’ All these terms, however, refer to the same substance. It can be smoked or eaten.

Harms of cannabis

Initially, there was a general understanding that marijuana is a recreational drug. Over time, however, people have become aware of the plant’s medicinal properties. From pain management to anxiety reduction, many people are prescribed medicinal marijuana. Be it recreational or medicinal, one needs to fully understand the effects of cannabis on the body.

Here are five side-effects that cannabis can have on your health:

1. Visual effects

Smoking cannabis significantly alters key visual functions, such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, three-dimensional vision.  In fact, your ability to focus is impacted by cannabis use and could lead to issues in concentrating on tasks at hand. 

2. Increased risk of self-harm

Teens and young adults with conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of self-harm and suicide attempts due to the mind-altering properties of cannabis. 

Cannabis can be harmful. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
3. Heavy dependence to conduct basic day to day activities

People often get dependent on cannabis when they feel restless, irritable and experience loss of appetite or sleep and the only thing that calms them down or helps is cannabis use. The haptic feedback in the form of food cravings and a good night’s sleep after using cannabis makes its user dependent on it as over time they lose their ability to conduct these mundane activities without using marijuana. 

4. It is not good for your heart

Cannabis could potentially harm the heart, lungs and blood vessels and trigger cardiovascular conditions or events, such as heart attacks and strokes. Abnormalities, such as tachycardia and atrial fibrillation, may occur in some cases after cannabis use as THC increases the heart rate, thereby increasing the heart’s need for oxygen, disrupting the walls of arteries and contributing to higher blood pressure.

5. It may impair brain function

Marijuana could make it harder for you to focus and remember events. things. This seems to be a short-term effect that lasts for 24 hours or longer after you stop smoking. Cannabis is known to impair alertness, learning and memory as it contributes to the degeneration of brain cells over continued use. 

So, ladies, a little caution will go a long way in protecting yourself and leading healthier lives.

Select Topics of your interest and let us customize your feed.

PERSONALISE NOW

Grace Bains

Grace is someone who likes writing enough to make a living out of it. When she isn’t writing, you will find her having chai and reading a book. ...Read More

Next Story