According to a recent study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, smoking cannabis may hasten the biological aging process. After investigating the epigenomes of 154 persons in the United States, the researchers discovered that by the age of 30, frequent stoners have patterns of genomic activation that are beyond their years.
It is commonly understood that the pace at which we age is not completely determined by Father Time, and that environmental influences play an important part in influencing our rate of maturity. These environmental effects cause changes in the expression of specific genes, which contribute to our epigenetic age.
Does Smoking Weed Make You Look Older?
In recent years, researchers have created “epigenetic clocks,” which use DNA methylation patterns to establish a person’s biological age. As a result, the study’s authors decided to utilize these metrics to determine if consuming marijuana causes a disparity between an individual’s epigenome and their actual age.
Participants were recruited at the age of 13 and asked to report their yearly level of cannabis usage over the next 17 years. At this time, the researchers analyzed blood samples from each subject using two distinct epigenetic clocks.
The findings revealed a significant link between marijuana use and accelerated epigenetic aging, with heavier users experiencing the largest acceleration of their biological clock. “There was a dose-effect relationship found, such that higher levels of lifetime marijuana usage were connected to greater epigenetic age acceleration,” the investigators wrote.
Importantly, these findings were consistent even after the researchers controlled for other variables including cigarette smoking, past health issues, socioeconomic background, personality characteristics, and a lifetime history of sadness and anxiety.
“These data are all compatible with, but do not definitively show, a causal involvement of marijuana use in epigenetic aging,” the researchers write.
Follow-up investigations revealed that the overall increase in epigenetic aging among marijuana users was linked to alterations in the AHRR gene, which encodes a hydrocarbon receptor repressor. Similar changes in this gene have previously been related to cigarette smoking and air pollution exposure.
Based on this finding, the researchers believe that the epigenetic aging effects of cannabis are most likely induced by the act of smoking rather than the consumption of THC or any other active component found in marijuana. They also mention that “links to epigenetic aging were depending on the recentness of marijuana use, with more recent usage substantially associated to age acceleration and this impact diminishing for use in the distant past.”
How Weed Smoke Influences Skin Health
You may be aware that cigarette smoke has a significant influence on how rapidly a person’s skin ages. This is due to the presence of substances in smoke, such as hydrocarbons, that promote inflammation and tissue damage. Cannabis smoke differs from cigarette smoke in certain aspects while being similar in others. Marijuana usage can have a variety of effects on skin health, both favorable and bad.
Positives
Many cannabis-derived compounds (cannabinoids) can enhance skin health, and you’ll find that many cosmetic businesses are adding cannabis-derived compounds (cannabinoids) to their products.
Cannabinoids, for starters, offer anti-inflammatory qualities that reduce the redness and swelling associated with acne. This is related with the majority of cannabis uses, including smoking.
Cannabinoids also aid in the maintenance of a healthy balance of skin cell development and loss. Cannabinoids aid in the treatment of psoriasis by reducing the proliferation of skin cells.
CBD, a cannabinoid, has been demonstrated to function as a barrier to water loss via the skin, which has led to its inclusion in many moisturizing products. One method marijuana’s effects may benefit skin health is by preventing skin dryness.
Negatives
Even while cannabinoids can be good to skin health, smoking typically harms the body and skin, and cannabis smoke is no exception.
To begin with, hydrocarbons may be found in both cannabis and cigarette smoke. Breathing in hydrocarbons has been proven to promote aging in marijuana users on a genetic level, implying that the effects would be long-lasting and would likely affect all cells.
Cannabis use has also been proven to accelerate the aging of the heart and blood vessels, which would have an impact on skin health by reducing the quantity of nutrients given to skin cells via the blood. One research revealed that secondhand marijuana smoke was more harmful to blood vessels than cigarette smoke, but these findings should be interpreted with caution because the study was done in rats, and while their blood vessels are comparable to those of people, they are not a direct equivalent.
FAQS
Is marijuana as terrible for your skin as smoking cigarettes?
The cannabis plant’s components differ from those of the tobacco plant. However, when smoked, each emits hundreds of molecules that are identical. Marijuana smoke has 33 known carcinogens. It contains four times as much tar as a tobacco cigarette. When the leaves are heated, free radicals are released, which damage the DNA of the skin. Marijuana has the potential to dilate (open) blood arteries and improve blood flow (bloodshot eyes). However, it initially constricts them, depriving the skin of oxygen, just like smoking cigarettes does. The harmful consequences cause your skin to age more quickly.
Marijuana smoke contains a lot of hydrocarbons. They harm collagen formation when they come into touch with your skin. Collagen is a structural protein that protects against air pollution and inflammation. Collagen damage can prematurely age your skin by generating wrinkles and a lack of flexibility. What’s the bottom line? Smoke is just smoke. It is detrimental to all of our organs.
Is will quitting marijuana make you appear younger?
Marijuana appears to promote aging on a genetic level, therefore these effects are unlikely to be reversed rapidly. However, these effects are expected to be reversed in the future, as present cannabis use in people appears to be connected with skin aging rather than previous cannabis use.
Conclusion
How numerous individual and environmental variables influence how quickly skin ages. While smoking marijuana has certain benefits for skin health, most smoke causes visible skin aging. All of the skin damage produced by marijuana smoking is due to the smoke, not the marijuana itself. It may be preferable to consume edibles or other cannabis products instead of smoking marijuana. Smoking in moderation, on the other hand, may help to reduce skin damage.
