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Whether you’re a student cramming hard for an upcoming exam, or preparing for a professional certification test, studying requires a lot of discipline and effort. Some people seem to absorb information like a sponge and seemingly without breaking a sweat, while others can read & re-read an entire course book before the information sticks to their memory. Everyone’s brains & bodies are unique and diverse, and learning, memory or data retention are no exceptions.
Have you ever tried to study differently? Even if you aren’t in school right now or you don’t see studying as a major part of your life, in reality we’re always studying the world around us. As we grow, we learn, and so we continue to study the environment around us, social cues from others, financial tips & tricks to be wealthier, and so on. It is imperative that we have a comprehensive understanding of not just the information all around us, but HOW we obtain, process and put into practice that information.
One way in which many forward thinking people are enhancing how they study or improving their ability to pour through vast quantities of data is using sativa or indica for studying. Studying while high might sound frantic or difficult to remember afterwards, but there are many levels to using cannabis for all life’s scholarly pursuits.
Is weed good for studying? How does weed help you study? Can you study while high? Or is it better to stick to non-psychoactive cannabinoids like CBD, CBN or CBG? Let’s take off our 4/20 hats and put on our thinking caps as we delve into the world of books, brains and buds.
Can You Study While High?
An important consideration to start with has to do with each person’s unique relationship to cannabis. There are billions of people on this planet enjoying thousands of strains of weed every day, creating millions – if not billions – of experiences, feelings and effects. Sometimes a strain that you’re familiar with can interact with your endocannabinoid system differently and surprise you – other times you can have a disappointing experience with a strain that was hyped up to you as “otherworldly”.
The real takeaway from these examples is that all cannabis interactions have the capacity for something new, something different, something profound or something fun. Every cannabis experience has the potential to be unique, so every time you consume cannabinoids should be treated with respect, done carefully and committed to with positive intentions. From this we can lead into a few hierarchies that are important to comprehend if you’re going to get the most out of studying while high on cannabis.
Tolerance Levels
This affirmation implies that you need to understand your tolerance to cannabinoids and terpenes. Many of us have a strong sense of how cannabis affects our minds and bodies, but even the most savvy of stoners can be taken by surprise from time-to-time. On the flipside, sometimes those that are new to cannabis can suddenly discover that they have an incredibly high tolerance for being high on cannabis.
There is an entire spectrum of tolerance levels that we’ve written about in past articles, so before you go ahead and decide between sativa or indica for studying it’s essential that you have a foundation understanding/experience with your personal tolerance to cannabis in its myriad forms.
Dosage Levels
One of the ways in which weed is good for studying has to do with how much or how little you’re taking. A hero dose of hundreds of milligrams probably won’t help you study – you’ll be too busy surfing the cosmic waves of the big bang to alternate dimensions to worry about such trivial matters like school exams.
Dosing is all about striking a balance between neural or bodily enhancement and feeling stable, safe and confident in your ability to function (or in this case, retain information). For some people a microdose is enough to take their nerves away and help them focus on the information before them. Others learn that they can study while high and still absorb & process everything just fine. Just like with tolerance levels, dosing levels are unique to you and they can change to fit your current needs, situation or mind-body-spirit matrix.
Frequency Levels
We’d love to get into actual frequencies and vibrations that can help you grow amazing plants and feel more attuned to everything around you, but that’s a topic all on its own. For the purposes of this guide we’ll stick to the literal meaning of the word: how frequently you consume cannabis for studying. How often you imbibe in cannabis can often have as much impact on your experience as how much you’re dosing.
This is where microdosing cannabis or other substances can lead to incredible benefits for your health & wellbeing. Weed does help you study but only so long as you don’t end up losing your mind in the throes of a world-shattering high. Microdosing cannabis can deliver the needed advantages of increased focus, creativity, productivity, perspectives or attention to details without the disadvantages of dry mouth, mind alteration, dizziness, hallucinations, sensitivities to stimulus and more.
How Does Weed Help You Study?
We’ve detailed some of the ways you can study while high or whether weed is good for studying in a more subdued, non-psychoactive state. Studies into the particulars of cannabis are still slow to catch up to what the community of cannabis users already know, but there’s a lot to be excited about as cannabis research picks up steam. With that in mind, let’s fixate our mind’s eye on the ways in which weed does help you study, as we’ve studied it so far.
Neuroprotection
It’s a common misconception that cannabis’ influences on the brain can be detrimental. Many stigmas about cannabis circulate around the notions that if consumed on a regular basis, or in larger quantities & potencies, cannabis can “fry brain cells” or “turn youth into zombies”. Cannabis’ identity in many societies is unfortunately very negatively charged, but there is a widely sweeping movement that is working to pull back the veil and reveal the truth about cannabis’ incredible capacity for healing.
For instance, low doses of THC have been shown to help reverse certain neurological symptoms from a variety of conditions. Memory loss, cognitive dissonance, behavioral issues, mood swings, depression, anxiety, PTSD and much more can be positively influenced with cannabis treatments. THC is often the most demonized of the phytocompounds, so it is so important for the cannabis and scientific communities to come together on the benefits of THC while also breaking down the barriers of stigma surrounding this multifaceted plant.
CBD, CBG, CBN, THC, THCV and the dazzling multitude of cannabinoids and terpenes can work individually on personal health issues associated with your neurological health, or they can be taken in combination for even greater effects. Neuroprotection is just one of the benefits of consuming/absorbing cannabinoids today. Instead of worrying about how studying while high might cause you to forget things, we should be focusing on how weed is good for studying because it can actually protect our brains from cellular damage from everything else.
Anxiety Treatment
One of the most profound ways in which cannabis has been helping students and professionals alike surrounds anxiety. Nervousness, anxiety disorders, depression and frantic mental health episodes are far too common of an occurrence for far too many people today. Anxiety disorders are at all-time highs in numbers & severity, students recording some of the most alarming anxiety numbers of all. For many people, nothing is more nerve wracking than the approaching deadline for a school/work project or a test. Even if you’re confident in your knowledge or abilities, testing what you know can lead any competent individual to crack under the pressure.
If only there were something you can take before, during or after bouts of anxiety that can relieve your symptoms and actually prevent your nerves from fraying in the first place… Oh yes! You can ingest CBD, smoke cannabis, take an edible or rub on a weed salve! Simply put, there’s almost nothing more chill-inducing than cannabis. Obviously certain strains, doses and product types are better than others – but as we discussed earlier, that will depend on your tolerances and needs from weed.
Both sativa and indica for studying can be amazing for calming you down, or you can study while high on lower doses of THC to quell your worries without losing your head. CBD seems to be immensely popular in professional or educational settings because it doesn’t have the psychoactivity associated with THC – in fact, CBD can actually help to reduce the mind-altering effects of other cannabinoids. Think of Cannabidiol as your lifeline when experimenting with cannabis, particularly when you’re studying while high.
Focus Enhancement
Weed can help you to zone out, but a lot of the time it is actually assisting us in focusing on things we might not have noticed before. Certain formulations are popular for enhancing creativity through expansion of your perceptions or senses, some boost productivity by cutting out detracting factors like pain, stiffness or fatigue. There are so many ways to enhance your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states with cannabis; the trick is to find the right one for the job, but rest assured there is always a strain for every situation.
Does cannabis imbue with you with a jolt of energy like we perceive a cup of coffee to do? No, but in saying that caffeine is mistakenly assumed to actually provide energy, but it does not. Cannabis works to reduce the impacts of negative stimuli or states of being while promoting positive ones. For example: ingesting full-spectrum oil sublingually before a big study session can ease you into the process, remove those nagging thoughts of doubt or nervousness, sharpen your mental alacrity, dissipate any discomforts like soreness or tiredness, and awaken your mind to retain more information or see data in more profound ways.
When you find that dose of that magical strain at the perfect time of day, you’ll find that you can study while high better than you ever could without weed. This is very subjective, so it won’t be that same for everyone. It can take a lot of work and even… *gulp*… a lot MORE studying of cannabis options before you find that weed that is good for studying. Just remember: this is part of the fun and excitement of exploring new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving with cannabis.
Which Weed Is Good For Studying?
Your relationship with cannabis can be a positive one, and we hope you found this guide to studying while high to be insightful and exciting. If you believe that you can study while high, or you want to experience how does weed help you study, we’ve included some strains and cannabis products that can help you get started on the path to cannabis-enlightenment:
