Frequent Cannabis Users Wake up With More of the ‘Stress Hormone’ in Their System

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Research suggests people who often use cannabis start their day with higher cortisol levels than people who don’t, indicating a relationship between frequent cannabis use and a possible dysregulation of the body’s daily stress rhythms.

The paper by Oregon State University scientists was published in the journal Cannabis.

The researchers note that stress is a primary motivation to use cannabis and is linked with problematic use. While cannabis may provide short-term stress relief, its chronic use might negatively affect stress-response systems over time, they say.

Led by Anita Cservenka of the OSU College of Liberal Arts, the study is one of the few to examine the link between frequent cannabis use and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the major neuroendocrine system that governs the body’s response to stress.

The findings are important because in the United States, 29% of adults ages 19-30 report having used cannabis in the previous 30 days, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past 15 years. Greater than 10% of that age group report using cannabis 20 or more times in 30 days – more than twice the percentage seen 15 years ago, the scientists say.