natina
10-02-2012, 10:11 PM
News Every Pothead Must Know
If you’re worried that all those stoner years in college (or now!) have permanently damaged your lungs, fear not: A new study in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that unless you’re reaching Willie Nelson-level pothead status, you’re probably in the clear.
The research used data from a long-running study meant to measure risk factors for coronary artery disease in healthy adults. As part of periodic exams, participants answered questions every few years on their marijuana and tobacco smoking patterns and did a couple tests of lung function meant to measure lung capacity and airflow.
Putting together 20 years of data—and using the magic of statistics to separate the effects of pot from those of tobacco, since people often smoke both—the researchers found that pot smokers seemed to have better lung function than people who didn’t smoke at all.
The performance on lung tests improved steadily until marijuana smokers hit more than 10 joint-years. (Flash back to statistics class: One joint year is the equivalent of 365 joints or filled pipe bowls smoked—so smoking 10 joints a day for 36 days would be one joint-year.) Even when they surpassed that amount, it took a good 20 to 30 joint years before lung performance dipped down to the level of non-smokers.
Study leader Stefan Kertesz, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says that he and his colleagues don’t think marijuana actually makes your lungs healthier—it’s an irritant, after all. But the way people smoke pot, by breathing in very deeply, may have trained participants to perform better on the tests. Either way, the effect was very small. “Don’t smoke pot if you’re trying to improve your triathlon times,” Kertesz jokes.
http://news.menshealth.com/news-every-pothead-must-know/2012/01/10/?cm_mmc=MSN-_-MH_News-_-The%20Scary%20Consequence%20of%20Getting%20High-_-How%20Pot%20Damages%20Your%20Lungs
If you’re worried that all those stoner years in college (or now!) have permanently damaged your lungs, fear not: A new study in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that unless you’re reaching Willie Nelson-level pothead status, you’re probably in the clear.
The research used data from a long-running study meant to measure risk factors for coronary artery disease in healthy adults. As part of periodic exams, participants answered questions every few years on their marijuana and tobacco smoking patterns and did a couple tests of lung function meant to measure lung capacity and airflow.
Putting together 20 years of data—and using the magic of statistics to separate the effects of pot from those of tobacco, since people often smoke both—the researchers found that pot smokers seemed to have better lung function than people who didn’t smoke at all.
The performance on lung tests improved steadily until marijuana smokers hit more than 10 joint-years. (Flash back to statistics class: One joint year is the equivalent of 365 joints or filled pipe bowls smoked—so smoking 10 joints a day for 36 days would be one joint-year.) Even when they surpassed that amount, it took a good 20 to 30 joint years before lung performance dipped down to the level of non-smokers.
Study leader Stefan Kertesz, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says that he and his colleagues don’t think marijuana actually makes your lungs healthier—it’s an irritant, after all. But the way people smoke pot, by breathing in very deeply, may have trained participants to perform better on the tests. Either way, the effect was very small. “Don’t smoke pot if you’re trying to improve your triathlon times,” Kertesz jokes.
http://news.menshealth.com/news-every-pothead-must-know/2012/01/10/?cm_mmc=MSN-_-MH_News-_-The%20Scary%20Consequence%20of%20Getting%20High-_-How%20Pot%20Damages%20Your%20Lungs