metabolism myth or all in your head?

[aoe2junkie]

would anyone know if the munchies is the result of a higher metabolism because of weed? or is it all in your head? some good evidence would be cool too.

 

[Sprinklervibes]

Only thing I know is that a while back, I used to smoke in the morning and ate like normal, By around 10.30-11 hours in the morning I'd have cramps like I was starving. So that was definitely not in my head..

 

[glenn420]

^^^ yeah, it always seems like my food gets digested faster if i've been smoking pot all day, as opposed to being sober.

 

[Adrenochrome]

This could be the cannabis speaking, but i think it's really an effect of the cannabis.

 

[Blowmonkey]

^ No kidding!

Smoking weed will kick in the munchies, because normally your endogenous cannabinoids would've sent that signal to your stomach/brain.. If you're a daily or frequent smoker you've adapted yourself to the lack of endogenous cannabinoids and rely on other cannabinoids, such as THC.

 

[shags2dope78]

^ No kidding!

Smoking weed will kick in the munchies, because normally your endogenous cannabinoids would've sent that signal to your stomach/brain.. If you're a daily or frequent smoker you've adapted yourself to the lack of endogenous cannabinoids and rely on other cannabinoids, such as THC.

Damn Blowmonkey, you know your pot.

*bows down to the Master*

 

[BuddhaSmokedPot]

effect of weed.

 

[Horger]

^^^ yeah, it always seems like my food gets digested faster if i've been smoking pot all day, as opposed to being sober.

yeah smoking and eating munchies all day makes me poop.

Alot!

 

[jeenius]

I think the munchies and the increased metabolism are probably separate effects of marijuana. Or do you feel hungry every time you increase your metabolism, like if something makes you nervous or excited, or you've just gone from sitting to walking?

 

[CuervoGirl]

The munchies makes me spend so much freakin money but eating is so delicous when your high hah

 

[frizzantik]

as blowmonkey said, it has to do with endocannabinoids

As it turns out, far from being a mere curiosity, the munchies provide a clue to the workings of one of the body's primary methods of hunger regulation, the endogenous cannabinoid system.

Your body, it seems, contains specialized proteins called cannabinoid receptors. (Broadly speaking, receptors react to certain stimuli and produce certain results.) The best-known cannabinoid is delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the principal psychoactive ingredient of weed (aka cannabis). Far more important from the body's standpoint, however, are the endogenous (i.e., internally synthesized) cannabinoids, endocannabinoids for short, which work like neurotransmitters and are produced as part of the built-in apparatus by which peripheral parts of the body inform the brain that it's lunchtime. Endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors are abundant in the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that plays a pivotal role in appetite regulation. In 1992 researchers identified the first endocannabinoid and named it anandamide, from the Sanskrit ananda, meaning inner bliss. In other words, when you smoke dope, you're replicating (albeit with much greater intensity) an effect the body produces naturally for itself.

Hunger regulation isn't the only thing endocannabinoids do for the body. Though their action is still imperfectly understood, a 1998 research paper suggests that they help you "feel less pain, control your movement, relax, eat, forget, sleep and protect" yourself against stress. In fact, some scientists think they're an important part of the body's general stress-recovery system.

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[BilZ0r]

We still don't really know much about cannabinoid pathways and appetite. I'm not conviced about it myself (I think cannabinoids have a roll in controlling most, if not all, functions of the brain), a lot of research gets funded by drug companies, but is published under the guise of independent university research, and seeing as drug companies want to market cannabinoid blockers (antagonists) as therapeutic drugs, combating obesity, I don't think its surprising we have the research linking cannabinoids to appetite.

Oh, and it probably is a myth, that cannabis speeds up metabolism, it decreasing testosterone release, which is likely to slow metabolis (or anabolism at least).