It may require very little daily cannabis consumption to produce long-term neuroprotection in the older brain.
Recent investigations have shown that stimulating the brain’s cannabinoid receptors may be protective.
The contents of cannabis may offer protection from the effects of stroke, chronic pain, and inflammation.loss associated with normal aging or Alzheimer’s disease? This is a topic that scientists have been investigating for the past few years. The concept of medical marijuana is not a new one. A Chinese pharmacy book, written in about 2737 BCE, was probably the first to mention its use as a medicine for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria, constipation, and absent-mindedness..
Finally, marijuana produces hallucinations at high doses, but its structure does not resemble LSD or any other hallucinogen. Thus, marijuana’s effects on our body and brain are complex. Just how does it achieve these effects, and are they beneficial? The chemicals contained within the marijuana plant cross the blood–brain barrier and bind to a receptor for the brain’s very own endogenous marijuana neurotransmitter system.
Surprisingly, it may also protect against some aspects of age-associated memory loss. Ordinarily, we do not view marijuana as being good for our brain and certainly not for making memories. How could a drug that clearly impairs memory while people are under its sway protect their brains from the consequences of aging? The answer likely has everything to do with the way that young and old brains function and a series of age-related changes in brain chemistry.
Research has demonstrated that stimulating the brain’s marijuana receptors may offer protection by reducing brain inflammation and by restoring neurogenesis. Thus, later in life, marijuana might actually help your brain, rather than harm it. Cannabis products may offer benefits for a variety of centraldiseases and dysfunctions such as forms of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and some neuropsychiatric disorders.
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