<\/p>\n
People who used cannabis frequently<\/a> woke up with more cortisol already circulating in their bodies than people who did not, according to Oregon State University researchers, though the size of the normal morning cortisol rise was similar between the two groups.<\/p>\n The distinction is the finding. The study examined the cortisol awakening response, and the researchers reported that the response itself did not differ. What differed was the starting point.<\/p>\n “Our research suggests cortisol levels upon awakening may serve as a neurobiological marker of problematic cannabis use, and that connection needs to be investigated further,”<\/em> said Anita Cservenka of the OSU College of Liberal Arts, who led the study<\/a> published in the journal Cannabis<\/em> with colleagues Julia Donner and Alexia Obrochta. The work was summarized this month<\/a> by science news outlets.<\/p>\n Cortisol follows a daily rhythm. It is produced in the adrenal glands under the control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the major neuroendocrine system governing the body’s response to stress. It falls overnight, rises sharply on waking, peaks roughly 30 minutes later, and declines across the day. That morning surge is the cortisol awakening response.<\/p>\n Calculating it is straightforward. Researchers measure cortisol in saliva immediately after a person wakes, measure again half an hour later, and subtract the first value from the second. The difference is treated as a marker of the body’s ability to prepare for the stressors of the day.<\/p>\n The hormone is useful in the short term. It assists in fighting infection, maintaining blood pressure, and regulating blood sugar and metabolism. Prolonged periods of high cortisol, however, have been associated with increased risk of anxiety, depression and heart disease.<\/p>\n Two numbers come out of this kind of measurement, and they mean different things. The magnitude of the rise reflects the responsiveness of the system. The baseline level on waking reflects where the system is set. This study found a difference in the second, not the first. The OSU work is one of relatively few studies examining how frequent cannabis use relates to that axis.<\/p>\n Cservenka was explicit that the finding conflicts with prior research. “Earlier studies by other researchers found CAR to be blunted in frequent cannabis users, but we didn’t replicate that finding, which suggests there is a lot of nuance that could be related to analytic strategies and sample characteristics,”<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n That failure to replicate is not a footnote. When studies of the same question produce different answers, the differences often trace to how participants were recruited, how frequent use was defined, what time participants woke, how carefully they followed the saliva collection schedule, and which statistical approach the researchers chose.<\/p>\n Salivary cortisol is particularly sensitive to protocol adherence. A sample collected 15 minutes after waking rather than immediately, or a second sample at 45 minutes rather than 30, shifts the calculated response. Sleep duration, shift work, smoking, oral contraceptive use, and time of year all influence cortisol patterns as well.<\/p>\n None of that invalidates the result. It does mean this is one measurement in a literature that has not converged, and readers should treat it as adding a data point rather than settling a question.<\/p>\n Cservenka emphasized that the research does not prove frequent cannabis use causes people to wake up with higher cortisol levels, or the reverse. “We would need to study the same groups of people over a longer period of time to understand any cause and effect relationship, but we think this provides an important starting point,”<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n Three explanations remain compatible with the data. Frequent cannabis use could alter HPA axis function over time. People with baseline differences in stress physiology could be more likely to use cannabis frequently, since stress is a primary motivation for use. Or a third factor, such as disrupted sleep, could independently affect both. Cservenka added that it is reasonable to think a dysregulated stress system could in turn lead individuals into a cycle of more cannabis use.<\/p>\n The researchers note that while cannabis may provide short-term stress relief<\/a>, chronic use might negatively affect stress-response systems over time. That is a hypothesis the study is consistent with rather than one it demonstrates.<\/p>\n The available research materials did not specify the number of participants or the threshold used to define frequent use, both of which affect how much weight the finding can carry. The work was funded by Oregon State University, the OSU Center for the Humanities and the OSU College of Liberal Arts.<\/p>\n The researchers frame the work as important because of scale. In the United States, 29% of adults ages 19 to 30 report having used cannabis in the previous 30 days, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past 15 years. More than 10% of that age group report using cannabis 20 or more times in 30 days, more than twice the share seen 15 years ago.<\/p>\n Stress is among the most commonly cited reasons for use, and it is also associated with problematic patterns of use. That overlap is what makes the cortisol question clinically interesting rather than academic.<\/p>\n Nothing here changes clinical guidance, and the study does not establish that elevated waking cortisol causes harm in this population. It measured a hormone rather than any health outcome.<\/p>\n For readers using cannabis regularly and specifically for stress, the practical question the research raises is worth asking a clinician: whether use is still producing the effect it was intended to produce, or whether sleep and morning anxiety have shifted. Anyone who has tried to cut back and found it difficult, or who notices withdrawal symptoms including irritability, sleep disturbance and appetite changes, should raise it with a healthcare provider.<\/p>\n Larger studies measuring cortisol alongside sleep, use frequency and mental health outcomes over time would be required to determine whether the pattern reflects an effect of cannabis, a predisposition toward it, or something else entirely. MedicalDaily has covered the expanding role of telehealth in mental health care<\/a> and federal investment in community clinics<\/a>, two routes through which people seeking support for substance use can reach clinicians.<\/p>\n What did the study find?<\/strong> Frequent cannabis users woke with more cortisol circulating than nonusers. The size of the normal morning cortisol rise, known as the cortisol awakening response, was similar in both groups.<\/p>\n What is the cortisol awakening response?<\/strong> The sharp rise in cortisol that occurs after waking, peaking around 30 minutes later. It is calculated by measuring cortisol in saliva immediately on waking and again 30 minutes later, then subtracting the first value from the second.<\/p>\n Does this mean cannabis raises cortisol?<\/strong> The study cannot establish direction. The lead author said determining cause and effect would require studying the same people over a longer period.<\/p>\n Why does it matter that earlier studies found something different?<\/strong> Prior research reported a blunted awakening response in frequent users. This study did not replicate that. The lead author attributed the difference to analytic strategies and sample characteristics, meaning the literature has not converged.<\/p>\n Is elevated waking cortisol harmful?<\/strong> This study measured a hormone, not a health outcome. Prolonged high cortisol has been associated with increased risk of anxiety, depression and heart disease in other contexts, but that was not tested here.<\/p>\n How common is frequent cannabis use?<\/strong> Twenty-nine percent of US adults ages 19 to 30 report use in the previous 30 days, and more than 10% of that group report using 20 or more times in 30 days. Both figures have roughly doubled over 15 years.<\/p>\n What should someone using cannabis for stress consider?<\/strong> Whether it is still producing the intended effect, and whether sleep or morning anxiety have changed. Difficulty cutting back, or withdrawal symptoms like irritability and sleep disturbance, are worth raising with a clinician.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People who used cannabis frequently woke up with more cortisol already circulating in their bodies than people who did not, according to Oregon State University researchers, though the size of the normal morning cortisol rise was similar between the two groups. The distinction is the finding. The study examined the cortisol awakening response, and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1985,4010,4012,4008,1822,4011,4013,1993,794,2308,4009],"class_list":["post-2159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-cannabis","tag-cortisol","tag-daily","tag-frequent","tag-higher","tag-levels","tag-rhythms","tag-stress","tag-study","tag-users","tag-woke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Measurement and What It Represents<\/h2>\n
A Result That Ran Against Earlier Work<\/h2>\n
The Direction Problem the Design Cannot Resolve<\/h2>\n
The Population This Concerns<\/h2>\n
Key Questions Answered<\/h2>\n