When we talk about smoking marijuana, we generally talk about the different means of ingestion, different cannabis preparations, different strains, and different paraphernalia. But there is another, less discussed facet of the smoking experience – the inhaling. The breathing. Does holding it in get you higher? Should you breathe deeply or shallowly? How can you avoid coughing? Nobody likes a chronic cough!
What is Breathing?
I feel like you probably know this (you’re doing it right now!) but no harm in a refresher. Breathing is a key function of the human body that allows us to take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. This process helps our cells extract energy from food, circulate blood throughout our bodies, and remove waste products. It also plays an important role in regulating heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature. When we inhale air through our noses or mouths it travels down into our lungs where tiny sacs called alveoli allow oxygen molecules to pass into the bloodstream while simultaneously letting out carbon dioxide molecules as we exhale.
To maximize the effects of smoking cannabis while minimizing the risks to your lungs, you need to understand how smoking affects your body and learn the best way to breathe. Breathing in smoke from any substance can be harmful over time, but some strategies can help protect your lungs and ensure that you get the most out of each smoking session. By understanding these techniques and putting them into practice, you can enjoy smoking cannabis without compromising your lung health too much (not smoking is always going to be better for your lungs than smoking, but what is life without a little risk?)
How to breathe
When smoking cannabis, the key is to take slow and steady breaths. Taking deep, long draws of smoke without coughing is the best way to ensure that your lungs can absorb all of the cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds contained in the cannabis. Take deep breaths that fill your lungs with air. This allows for more surface area within the lungs for cannabis smoke to interact with lung tissues. Shallow breathing will not allow enough inhalation of the active ingredients in marijuana smoke and will reduce its effectiveness. Taking slow breaths also enables more oxygen intake which helps move cannabis into other parts of the body, such as the bloodstream.
Marijuana for Meditation
This is not an article about meditating while stoned. It’s about leveraging the state of altered consciousness that cannabis can induce to meditate deeply and look inwards to learn more about yourself and help sort through issues that may be…
Why does weed make you cough?
The smoke from marijuana contains a range of chemicals, including particulate matter, tar, and toxins that can irritate the sensitive lung tissue. When these irritants come into contact with the respiratory tract and airways of the lungs, it can trigger a reflex reaction called coughing. Coughing helps to clear out any unwanted particles like dust or smoke from your airways so your body won’t be affected by them. If you smoke too much over a long period of time you can develop a chronic cough, but this is pretty hard to do.
Slow it down
Inhaling too quickly or smoking more than you can handle will likely trigger your cough reflex and lead to coughing fits, which actually decrease lung function by reducing oxygen absorption and leaving behind trapped toxins. When smoking a larger amount of cannabis it may be hard to resist taking big, greedy draws, but if you practice a slow inhalation technique and stop smoking once you start feeling uncomfortable it will help protect your lungs. It can still be a big hit, just be slow with it. Cannabis smoking isn’t a race!
How to smoke
Smoking from a pipe or bong or vaping is generally much gentler on your lungs than smoking directly from joints or blunts. It is also important to take breaks between inhalations and exhalations during smoking sessions. Taking frequent breaks helps prevent coughing fits and allows your lungs to prepare for another round of smoking weed.
Should I hold it in?
This is how I learned to smoke cannabis- take a deep breath, bringing in oxygen as well as smoke, then hold it for as long as you can, or at least a few seconds, before breathing out slowly. Holding in smoke after inhaling can increase levels of cannabinoids found in your system; however, it can also be damaging to your lungs so it should not be done too often. I am making a conscious effort to retrain myself not to hold it in too much.
To Recap
- Pipes, bongs, and vaping are gentler on your lungs than smoking a joint or a blunt.
- Take deep, slow breaths that bring in a decent amount of oxygen along with the smoke.
- Don’t hold it in for too long, if at all.
- Take frequent breaks between inhalations. No rush!
- Stop smoking if you start feeling uncomfortable and give your lungs a few minutes to recover.
- Don’t add tobacco to the mix – tobacco smoke is more harmful than weed smoke.
Risks
This is probably as good a place as any to talk about the risks to your lung health of smoking cannabis. People will tell you that it is less carcinogenic and less generally bad for you than smoking tobacco, and this is true, but there is no way that breathing in vegetable matter is going to be good for you.
There hasn’t been any definitively established link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer risk, but marijuana does contain many of the carcinogenic chemicals that are found in tobacco. It should also be noted that the illegality until recently of cannabis has hindered long term study.
It is generally accepted that vaping cannabis causes fewer of these harmful chemicals to make it into your lungs than smoking it, but the safest way of all is to eat it! I’m not a big fan of edibles – I like to have more control over my experience than they allow. I have accepted that smoking cannabis isn’t good for me physically, but I have decided that the benefits I receive outweigh these potential harms. You gotta die of something, and you can’t live your life wrapped in cotton wool.
And on that note, remember to Enjoy The Smoke!
