The heightened visual and auditory senses that cannabis can provide are just the ticket for many people who experience a daily anxiety buzzkill. 

Being locked down or otherwise limited in your movements during this pandemic doesn’t mean you are down and out on keeping physically fit.

But it does mean you are limited on your options for getting out like you used to. Those long walks that used to be just a part of what you did once or twice a week in your fitness regime is now becoming a bigger part of a daily routine. And cannabis should be right there with you, mind and body.

There has been more scientific research on terpenes in cannabis where scientists are finding interesting properties that come into play for those moving and grooving while fighting the COVID crazy.

For example, a 2015 study published in European Journal of Pharmacology, shows that the terpene, myrcene — and to a lesser extent, limonene — can help provide an anti-inflammatory effect for joints and allow people with osteoporosis to move about better.

Both of these terpenes are available in certain strains of high THC cannabis; myrcene (also found in hops and lemongrass) is the dominant terpene in OG Kush, Grape Ape and Purple Urkle and others; limonene is dominant in White Fire OG, Banana OG, Black Cherry Soda and others. More research on these terpenes is on the way from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).

CBD products generally have lower levels of myrcene and other terpenes in their full-spectrum oils than in high-THC indica strains, generally because most hemp products where CBD oil comes from are sativa strains. But you can purchase distilled terpene isolates and add them to any CBD product. Many CBD manufacturers will show their terpene profile on the product label or their website.

RELATED: Study Shows How Marijuana Can Motivate You To Exercise

The heightened visual and auditory senses that cannabis can provide are just the ticket for many people, where anxieties about these turbulent times — and the unknowns of what is coming next — are a daily buzzkill.

Walking while consuming cannabis can actually affect the way you walk, according to a 2017 study, which found that there was a change in the body’s biomechanics, specifically how someone swings their arms and legs.

And if you happen to take a walk through the woods, guess what? There are terpenes lurking in the atmosphere of a forest that can provide healing properties, such as pinene, which has been shown to fight tumors. Pinene is in the pine tree resin and provides the fragrance of a pine tree, which is the dominant terpene in the Blue Dream strain.

There has also been news about how a cannabinoid receptor in the human body’s endocannabinoid system, which is stimulated by THC, gets fired up during exercise and actually helps motivate the person exercising to higher performance levels.

RELATED: Cannabis Users Exercise Much More Than You Think

So while you are taking that daily walk in your chosen quiet place, around the block, or through the woods, there are other perceptions that come into play when you add cannabis to the mix. For example, THC use can increase “internal clock speed”, meaning time seemed compressed. That long walk was probably more like a really long walk.

The bottom line is that when you are out there trying to feel better about you, your life and our current situation, remember, as one researcher found out: low THC/high CBD cannabis is best for reducing perceived symptoms of depression; high THC/high CBD cannabis is best for reducing perceived symptoms of stress.

And that means you, as a cannabis consumer looking to stay fit, can keep on keeping on until the light at the end of the dark COVID-19 tunnel illuminates a pathway to a new beginning for all of us.