A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana—evidence that contradicts the “lazy stoner” stereotype—although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes.
The paper, by a team of ten researchers from across the U.S., was published by the journal Addictive Behaviors late last month. It used data from a four-week nationwide study of 98 adults over the age of 18 that tracked behaviors such as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as consumption of controlled substances.
Only people who reported marijuana use on at least one of the 28 days were included, allowing the team to assess how past-month cannabis consumers’ use on a particular day was associated with other health behaviors that same day. Participants were asked questions via smartphone-based surveys such as, “In the past 24 h, which of the following have you used?” with regard to substances, and “How many minutes of VIGOROUS leisure time physical activity did you get yesterday?” with examples including running, aerobics and heavy yard work.
Authors—from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Commerce, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Colorado Boulder—said the study of is “among the first” to use the real-time tracking data, called ecological momentary assessment (EMA), “to examine associations between cannabis use and same-day MVPA, alcohol consumption, and cigarettes smoked.”
Though the analysis didn’t compare marijuana users to non-users, the team said their findings supported earlier research that found cannabis consumers were more active.
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