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Chronic cannabis users don't stress easily, say Washington State University researchers

CFS_for_19_years

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Potheads don’t stress easily, say WSU researchers
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jul/31/potheads-dont-stress-easily-say-wsu-researchers

[....]
Researchers in Chicago, for example, recently found that low doses of THC can relieve stress, while slightly higher doses – enough to produce a mild high – actually increase anxiety.

Cuttler and her colleagues asked a different question: Would a heavy cannabis user still experience stress-relieving or stress-inducing effects after a high wears off?

“There have been studies before that looked at whether people were high or not high,” she said, “but nobody’s looked at sober cannabis users.”

So the researchers recruited two groups of people: 40 who self-identified as chronic users and 42 nonusers. The first group had used cannabis daily or almost daily for at least a year. The second group had used it 10 or fewer times in their life and not at all during the previous year.

All of the participants were required to abstain from using cannabis on the day of testing, although they could use it the night before. The experiment involved a procedure called the Maastricht Acute Stress Test, or MAST.

Half of each group of participants were told to dunk a hand in a container of frigid water and leave it there for 45 to 90 seconds. At the same time, they were told to count backward from 2,043 in intervals of 17, while being chided by lab workers each time they made a mistake. Compounding the stressors, they also had to watch their own faces on a live video feed as they attempted to perform the count.

The other half of the participants – the control group – had a much simpler task. Their nonstressful scenario involved dipping a hand in lukewarm water and counting, forward, from 1 to 25. There was no “negative verbal feedback” and no distracting video feed.

Before and after each test, researchers questioned the participant about his or her stress level. They also took saliva samples to measure levels of cortisol, the primary hormone associated with stress.

Among cannabis users, there was no difference in cortisol levels between those who completed the stressful scenario and those who completed the nonstressful scenario. Among nonusers, however, cortisol levels were significantly higher among those who got the ice-water-and-reprimands treatment.

And while cannabis users reported feeling more stressed after the less-pleasant of the two tests, they showed “a significantly smaller increase in subjective stress ratings” than nonusers, the researchers wrote.

The results surprised Cuttler, who had predicted that daily cannabis users, suddenly without their preferred coping tool, would experience unusually high stress levels during the experiment. But it ultimately confirmed the hypothesis of Ryan McLaughlin, one of the study’s authors and Cuttler’s husband.
[....]

Free full text of the study:
Blunted stress reactivity in chronic cannabis users
http://sci-hub.cc/10.1007/s00213-017-4648-z

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Mary

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Half of each group of participants were told to dunk a hand in a container of frigid water and leave it there for 45 to 90 seconds. At the same time, they were told to count backward from 2,043 in intervals of 17, while being chided by lab workers each time they made a mistake. Compounding the stressors, they also had to watch their own faces on a live video feed as they attempted to perform the count.

That is just bizarre ..... :sluggish: It sounds like somebody was indulging when thinking up this stressful situation :lol:
 

CFS_for_19_years

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That is just bizarre ..... :sluggish: It sounds like somebody was indulging when thinking up this stressful situation :lol:
I had the same reaction when I was reading the procedure, especially the part about being chided when they made a mistake.

Here's more info on the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28469586
Abstract
The Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) is designed to be a simple, quick, and non-invasive procedure aimed at activating the human stress system. The MAST has been developed by combining elements from two of the most common experimental paradigms measuring stress, the Trier Social Stress Test and the Cold Pressor Test. The aim of this study was to use the MAST procedure to elicit strong autonomic and subjective stress responses that can be quantified in terms of (systolic and diastolic) blood pressure, pulse rate (PR), and state anxiety ratings. In healthy individuals, the MAST induced a significant elevation of systolic blood pressure (SBP) from baseline for up to 30 min post-MAST, while diastolic blood pressure (DBP) dropped to baseline within 10 min post-MAST. Interestingly, the presentation of instructions alerting participants to the procedure resulted in significant elevation of both SBP and DBP above baseline. However, BP measurements prior to test initiation were not as high as those measured immediately after the MAST procedure. PR data showed limited variability across time points. Self-reported state anxiety increased dramatically from baseline to immediately following the MAST procedure. Further, individuals who reported higher levels of depression and stress were more likely to demonstrate larger increases in SBP in response to the MAST. Together, these results support the use of the MAST as a useful tool to activate both acute physiological and subjective measures of the stress response in healthy adults lasting up to 30 min.

Free full article:
The Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST): Physiological and Subjective Responses in Anticipation, and Post-stress
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5395611/
 
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Mary

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Southern California
I had the same reaction when I was reading the procedure, especially the part about being chided when they made a mistake.

Here's more info on the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28469586


Free full article:
The Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST): Physiological and Subjective Responses in Anticipation, and Post-stress
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5395611/

Ahhh, to be a social scientist ........ cockwomble! :eek::rofl: (it still sounds crazy to me, thinking up that test)

@Cheesus - is this the correct usage? Have to make sure I'm doing it right!
 
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Haha, hey didn't find the pathology they were looking for, so they decided to interpret the reduced stress levels in their weed users as pathological.

But the gaping glaring hole in this study is that they did not bother to report performance (how well people did on the counting task). This is what really matters. Having reduced stress levels is a good thing - if it doesn't compromise your performance.

Its only a bad thing if it means you don't perform as well as you otherwise might.
 
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