TECH Signal 265
Frequent cannabis users wake up with their “stress hormone” already elevated
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Oregon State University researchers found that frequent cannabis users wake with higher baseline cortisol levels than non-users, though the cortisol increase in the 30 minutes after waking is similar in magnitude between groups.
For engineers building health-tracking or wellness platforms that ingest cortisol data, frequent cannabis use is now a documented confound for interpreting morning readings. The finding also introduces a potential biomarker for problematic use patterns, though causation remains unestablished.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
Frequent cannabis users start the day with more cortisol already circulating at wake-up, even though their 30-minute post-waking cortisol rise matches that of non-users.
The study does not establish whether cannabis use causes elevated morning cortisol or whether elevated cortisol drives more frequent use.
Previous research found a blunted cortisol awakening response in frequent cannabis users, but this study did not replicate that result, suggesting analytic and sample differences significantly affect outcomes.
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