Weed affects your body in all sorts of ways, but does cannabis raise your heart rate? We don’t have to rely solely on anecdotes or personal experiences. Research has helped map out some of the ways that cannabis interacts with and affects our bodies. In particular, cardiovascular health is one area that researchers have looked at. So, does cannabis raise your heart rate? Here’s what we know.
Cannabis is a Vasodilator
When you consume cannabis, the cannabinoids in the plant interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system. These interactions are where most of weed’s effects come from.
The endocannabinoid system is linked to a broad range of body functions. This includes things like mood, appetite, sleep — and especially relevant to the question “does cannabis raise your heart rate” — your body’s cardiovascular system.
Cannabis is a vasodilator. To put it simply, it means that weed opens up your blood vessels. This might sound simple, but dilated blood vessels produce a bunch of other changes in your body.
To help this make sense, think of your blood vessels like they’re a garden hose. When you pinch the hose shut, less water flows out the end. At the same time, pressure starts building up in the the hose behind where you’re stemming the flow by pinching it shut.
Now, imagine that you stop pinching the hose. Better yet, imagine that you attach a wider, brand-new hose to the faucet. In this scenario, the water will flow freely. And there will be much less pressure built up in the hose.
This is how blood vessels work. When blood vessels are constricted for any reason, blood flows less easily throughout your body, and blood pressure builds up. When blood vessels dilate, blood flows more easily and blood pressure drops.
Cannabis and Your Cardiovascular System
OK, so what does all this have to do with weed and heart rate? How does this help us answer the question: Does cannabis raise your heart rate?
It turns out that weed’s function as a vasodilator directly impacts your heart rate. That’s because when your blood vessels dilate and your blood pressure drops, your heart actually has to work harder to pump blood.
To return to the garden hose analogy, when you attach a wider hose to the faucet, you’re going to need to pump a lot more water to maintain the same water pressure. It’s the same thing with your heart. In order to maintain blood pressure when your blood vessels are dilated, your heart has to work overtime. And that raises your heart rate.
In fact, researchers have figured out just how much harder your heart has to work after you consume cannabis. Here’s what the National Institute on Drug Abuse says: “Within a few minutes after inhaling marijuana smoke… the heart rate—normally 70 to 80 beats per minute—may increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or may even double in some cases.”
Elsewhere, the agency states that “marijuana raises heart rate for up to 3 hours after smoking.”
Cannabis And Your Heart Rate
To get to the question at hand: Does cannabis raise your heart rate? Yes, it definitely does. Your increased heart rate is the result of the effects of weed dilating your blood vessels.
This elevated heart rate could make you more susceptible to heart attacks. In particular, this could become a risk for older folks and for anyone who has an exisisting heart problem.
But in most cases, it shouldn’t be a big problem. In fact, as your tolerance to weed and the cannabinoids it contains builds up, you may notice that the effects you feel begin to decrease. For some smokers, that includes changes to heart rate.
Many weed consumers find that the higher their tolerance, the less their heart rate increases when they’re high. But one way or another, cannabis will impact your heart rate.
Thought I would share my personal experience. I am 60 years old, have been smoking since I was 16. My resting HR is between 46-48 and does not increase at all when smoking. Don’t know how normal this is but I thought the info may be helpful.
Ron, that is a very low resting heart rate! Are you an athlete? Do you ever get dizzy? If you have not talked to a doctor about that, might want to mention it to him or her. For the same reason your heart does not get a signal to be faster than 60 bpm, might be the same reason that marijuana does not “stimulate” your heart rate much, if any at all. For me my heart rate goes from 80s to 110 or 120s. Not good. Lol
I started smoking regularly when I was about 16. I’m a 27 year old female, and my normal resting heart rate is 60-68. I had to quit back in September which was disappointing it carried me through 3 years of helping me stay off actual drugs, but I quit because it was increasing my heart rate and giving me full blown panic attacks. I decided yesterday to hit a bowl one time, and my heart rate doubled to 160. I showed my friends cuz they didn’t believe me but they were shocked. Needless to say I think I’m pretty much done letting me on the circle. It never used to do that to me, so scary.
I’m 32 and have been smoking for about 15 years, a few times daily. I’ve found that my heart rate severely increases when the THC amount increases. THCA 22 and above raise my heart rate to 120 for a few minutes, then slowly decreases from there. But if I have less than 22 it’s never an issue. My resting rate is between 50-60. Any ideas on what causes this?
I’m 73 and have smoking pot on and off for over 50 years. I wear a Fitbit, so I have a pretty good record of my HR. When I smoke daily, my HR averages about 59 BPM. When not smoking, it averages about 67.
I’m 42 and have been vaporizing flower using a Pax pretty much all day everyday for 5 years. Has been a dream come true in a lot of ways, having access to legal, tested, cannabis. There have been plenty of benefits. Recently I started tracking my heart rate variability (HRV). It craters after I use for the duration of the time that I’m feeling the effects. Low HRV is associated with really bad health outcomes (including sudden death and stroke….especially for racial minorities). Still early in this process for me but has been scary to see the change. Starting to reconsider my use habits, but also trying not to be reactive because internalized reefer mania fears are a thing, unfortunately.
I’m 42. Started smoking around the age of 32. About once a week at first. Then nightly for few years. Till one time I realized my heart rate was going from 70 to 160 for a while. I thought I’ll get heart attack. Didn’t. Thank goodness. But long story short I micro dose now. Real weed. Not candy or vapor. Just two big puffs. And I’m good. I’m so glad i discovered this.
I’m 48 and been smoking daily for 3 decades (mostly micro dosing) without issue but in the last year I have rapid and irregular heartbeat if I smoke a little extra when the THC content is higher than 20% ish. It’s scary because I had a DVT/PE a few years back and now I’m hyper aware of small visceral changes. After reading this article and the comments I feel I can find a way to smoke without the crazy heart stuff!
BTW my resting HR is also very low normally (genetic) some people are just born that way 🙂
Growing up the THC levels were so much lower in the weed I smoked, and I never had this problem. Now, my heart rate goes from 75 bpm to 160 bpm. Until my heart rate calms down, I can’t even enjoy the high. I’m leaning towards completely quitting now.
When will you stop writing for search engines and more for your readers?
James ☝️ nailed it. My thoughts exactly.
I don’t know if I just never noticed it or what but a few weeks ago I hit a big dab and my heart rate was over 120 for 3 and a half hours. Didn’t go down till I just feel asleep. Thought I was gonna die or somthing. Seeing everyone here also say they have a heart rate this high realt puts me at ease. But is jt good for you tho?!