Marijuana is not memory’s best friend, though some studies find CBD might improve brain function.
One of the great benefits of smoking marijuana is that there’s rarely any hangovers on the following day. Sadly, the plant still has the capability of rattling your memories.
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Cannabis, or THC more precisely, tends to affect people’s cognitive function and short term memory skills, which is why smoking sometimes leaves you feeling a little dumb and spacey. This is all due to THC and the fact that it temporarily attaches itself to parts of the brain that process memory formations. This isn’t the case with cannabidiol (CBD): some studies even claim that the compound can boost memory functions and work on your brain health.
A 2017 study on CBD and it’s impact on Alzheimer’s provided some of the strongest evidence between CBD and it’s positive impact on memory loss. The study was conducted on mice, which were tested for a period of eight months in order to gauge the effects that CBD produced in them.
Researchers found that the compound reversed some of the mice’s cognitive deficits, especially when it comes to their social recognition memory. The compound promoted neurogenesis in the mice, encouraging the growth and development of their neurons.
Another older study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information on memory function and cannabis also provided some evidence that favored CBD. In it, researchers concluded that marijuana had a negative impact on memory, but made an important distinction: strains with high CBD content affected memory in much lesser degrees. The more CBD present in the strain, the less subject’s memories were impaired.
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Many have focused on the fact that CBD doesn’t negatively affect memories, with a lot of people forgetting that there’s a lot of evidence that says that it promotes brain health, improving functioning. While there’s not enough research out there to draw conclusions, the compound could become an important tool in preventing memory-related diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.
