Working Out With Weed YOU’VE HEARD OF A RUNNER’S HIGH? WELL... BY SOPHIE WELLS While many people actually look forward to exer- cise and take pleasure in working up a good sweat, others fi nd it diffi cult to just get up off the couch and onto the treadmill. Cannabis could provide the incentive they need, say proponents of the plant. “You kind of have to start a few hundred million years ago, with evolution and our reward system that incentivizes certain behaviors like learning, sex, sleep, food — things that will further our survival. And exercise is part of that,” says Josiah Hesse, the Denver author of Runner’s High who’s become a national advocate for the use of cannabis in exercise. “We get pleasure from exercise, and that’s because of an endogenous cannabinoid called amandemine, which comes from the Sanskrit word for ‘bliss,’” Hesse explains. “It reduces pain and uplifts joy, and so there’s a natural runner’s high that people have been talking about for a long time. But since it is a cannabinoid, it can also be induced by a phytocannabinoid like THC.” At the University of Colorado Boulder, the Study on Physical Activity and Cannabis Effects (SPACE) has been working with volunteers who have prior experience combining cannabis with exercise, recording their mental and physical status on a three-part test, including running for thirty minutes on a treadmill under the infl uence And Snow It Goes Every winter, eager skiers and snowboarders con- verge on Colorado. While après-ski activities are always popular, many people don’t wait until late afternoon to consume alcohol or cannabis. And while no studies have offi cially examined skiing under the infl uence, some experts think that alcohol could be the riskier choice. “We don’t know much about the use of alcohol and cannabis while people are skiing,” says Angela Bryan, a psychology and neuroscience professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who’s working on the SPACE study. “What we do know something about is the impact on our ability to drive, and we know that the impact of alcohol is a lot more det- rimental to driving than the impact of cannabis. I wouldn’t recommend driving under the infl uence of either, to be clear. But alcohol is defi nitely more 10 WESTWORD HIGH STYLE 2022 A Bend & Blaze pre-yoga sesh. of either THC or CBD. The goal is to explore the possibility that cannabis enhances, rather than hinders, the exercise experience. “We know that people who enjoy physical activity are more likely to do it more often and at higher intensities,” says Angela Bryan, a CU psy- chology and neuroscience professor who’s been working on SPACE since August. “And if cannabis can make people enjoy the activity more, make it less boring, make it more fun, then that might help people to be active.” Heather Mashhoodi, a champion local ultrarun- ner who has used the plant to her advantage while conquering long distances, is one of the SPACE participants. “I think it’s really context-depen- dent,” she explains. “In my experience, it’s kind of individualized.” For her, popping an edible in the middle of a long run can go a long way. In April 2021, edibles helped Mashhoodi clock an FKT (Fastest Known Time) for the San Francisco Bay Circumnav via dangerous, so I would expect that the same would be true about a sport like skiing.” Even so, alcohol is also widely accepted within snow-sports culture, though the Colorado Ski Safety Act makes it illegal for people to ride a lift or go down a slope while impaired by alcohol or another con- trolled substance. “There’s a huge stigma around cannabis use, which is ironic, because at the same time, it’s per- fectly fi ne to advertise alcohol use,” Bryan says. In fact, SPACE struggled to publicize the study on a local radio station that prohibits cannabis-use announcements but permits those covering alco- hol-related topics. “I can’t help but notice that alcohol is a huge part of resorts,” says Dr. Ashley Brooks-Russell, director of the Injury & Violence Prevention Center located on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her current research focuses on canna- bis-related impairment, specifi cally while driving. the Bay Area Ridge Trail: 12 days, 6 hours and 54 minutes. During and after this strenuous event, cannabis served as an effective substitute for Ibuprofen to relieve pain. While SPACE is studying the pain-reduction and recovery potential of cannabis, it’s also focus- ing on the plant’s mental side effects. In Mash- hoodi’s experience, cannabis consumption allows her to get out of her head and into her running environment. “One of the questions in the study is about if you’re internalizing right now or externalizing, and where the majority of your thought patterns reside,” she says. “Like, am I thinking about how bad my knees hurt, or am I thinking about how pretty this tree is?” Such externalization has become an essen- tial part of many Coloradans’ exercise routines. Amanda Hitz, owner and founder of Bend & Blaze Yoga, a Denver yoga studio, considers cannabis a useful tool. continued on page 14 “If alcohol consumption and skiing is consid- ered acceptable and appropriate on the slopes, then there’s not much reason to think cannabis would be different,” she says. “I wouldn’t think it’s more risky.” At the same time, she adds, “It’s all about how people use it.” Many factors affect behavior after consumption, including a person’s toler- ance level: Both cannabis and alcohol can reduce coordination. “If people are using a lot, obviously that’s going to increase the risk,” she notes. “If they’re not as familiar with the effects, I think that’s a big factor, and people who are experienced with knowing how cannabis affects them are probably going to mitigate some risk.” As for noobs coming from other states, they’ll just need to remember that while cannabis can get them high, they still need to make it down the mountain. — WELLS AMANDA HITZ/BEND & BLAZE YOGA
