Weed Tolerance and How Your High Can Change Over Time

As a consummate expert in weed, you may come to wonder how, or why your tolerance to our favorite flower changes over time. As the years roll by, you may have noticed a different reaction from the one you are used to feel in your body, even though you are using the same top quality product. This building of tolerance and the changes it creates have been studied more extensively in recent years. With that in mind, we bring you the how, why, and when, of everything related to your cannabis tolerance.

What is Weed Tolerance and How Does it Start?

Naturally, your initial experiences with smoking, edibles, or dabbing, have the potential to be strong, and not require a high THC content in the product you are consuming. This impact is the same with many products, and we can easily illustrate this point by taking a look at alcohol. The volume and amount required to experience the same high from the same product vary depending upon the amount, and regularity with which you consume.

This point has been well illustrated in a variety of high-level studies on the topic. The cause of weed tolerance building is as much to do with your own body than the actual products you are trying. As with exercise and working out, your body reaches a kind of plateau in terms of the impact which the same amount of any substance will have.

Weed tolerance is something which develops from when you very first roll that perfect cone joint, or trying some edibles for the first time. The fact behind tolerance and changing results lies with your CB1 inhibitors. These can become changed or desensitized through your bodies work to rebalance the effect of smoking, or consuming marijuana in any way.

There are ways in which you can combat an increasing tolerance, and also methods which many people use to retain the same impact from particular strains. These can be especially necessary practices if you are taking marijuana for medical purpose and relying on it for relief from certain symptoms.

The Changing Impact of Your High

In addition to your body becoming tolerant of weed over an extended period of time, you may also experience vast changes in how the exact same strains make you feel. A strain like Blackberry Kush, which once left you feeling inexorably calm, may suddenly make you more anxious than before. It is quite likely this would not be a sudden change, although you may have a single moment of realization, it is unlikely.

The reason why this is occurring is again similar to why your tolerance is increased. The reasoning is very much connected to your CB1 inhibitors, and the reduced density, or downregulation of these inhibitors.  This is all connected to your body’s relationship with the THC content of marijuana, and how this impacts you.

While this relationship between your body and THC is one of the major drivers which will shift the experiences and affects you have with a particular strain, both in terms of tolerance, and sometimes the expected results, there are other factors also at play when determining the change in your high experience over time.

Aging and natural body factors, as well as your environment, are two key considerations which should also be factored in when you are starting to experience a change in how strains make you feel. We are constantly evolving, and besides the impact of your body systems attempting to mitigate the work of the marijuana, and bring you back to what it considers the center, you have to consider that age is also playing a role greater than psychology in determining the outcomes of a strain.

Scientifically, when discussing the buildup of THC tolerance in relation to our body, you will often hear the term, desensitization. This is what occurs in order for tolerance to THC to build. This is a weakening in the response of receptors. At this point, you can still get high, but an increased amount of quality weed is required. The next stage is internalization. At this stage, the receptors are completely removed from the surface of the cell.

What to do if Your Weed Tolerance is Changing

As we have already mentioned, there may be a number of reasons why your body is adapting in the manner which it is, and changing both your tolerance and reaction to a particular strain. Firstly, we will look at what you should do if you are beginning to feel increasingly anxious when high. This is particularly if you have previously felt calm and relaxed.

The first area to take a look at is your own mindset. This can often, unknowingly be the cause of so many issues beyond getting high. If you are already feeling anxious about getting high in the first instance, this can have a big impact on your experience. This is true even of the same strain you may have tried multiple times. It is something akin to the same product but a slightly different environment.

The next solution to try would be something which many experienced users do. That is to switch up your strains. You will find that the most prolific marijuana masters often carry several strains just for this very reason. Think of it as similar to your favorite food. Sure, it may be good for you, and you probably love it. However, your mind and body both eventually tire of the same taste. Time to change it up. Luckily there are a host of top quality strains to choose from. You could also try changing your method of weed ingestion for a period to shake things up. Dabbing with something a little more concentrated may just help spark your body back into life.

Certainly one of the more approved, and effective methods of getting your tolerance back down, and performing a kind of reset in terms of your body chemistry and reactions, is to take a short break from getting high. Recent studies of frequent cannabis users have shown that, following a period of abstinence around the two-week mark, tolerance was reset to almost normal levels. These returning CB1 receptors even began to show marked signs of improvement after just two days.  This will certainly put you back on the right track so far as tolerance levels are concerned. It may also vastly help you to restore your body to its natural functions and allow you to begin enjoying your weed experience again. Just keep in mind that as you keep growing in body and mind, continuous assessment of what works is always vital.

Final Thoughts

Nothing in life stands perfectly still and everything we put into our body has some impact. In the case of marijuana, this is overwhelmingly positive, though that does not mean your body isn’t in need of a change. This does not mean you have to stop getting high, it just means that you have to reevaluate your position, and perhaps adapt your choices slightly. In fact, this should be an even more enjoyable experience, considering all of the amazing strains which are consistently being made available.