Study: Frequent Cannabis Users Wake With Elevated Cortisol
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- Anita Cservenka and OSU colleagues found that frequent cannabis users already had higher cortisol circulating when they woke up, compared to non-users, though the morning cortisol rise over 30 minutes was similar in both groups.
- The study, published in the journal Cannabis, focused on the cortisol awakening response (CAR) — the cortisol rise that peaks around 30 minutes after waking — and calculated it by subtracting the waking measurement from the 30-minute measurement.
- Cservenka cautioned the findings do not establish causation, saying longitudinal studies of the same groups over time would be needed to understand any cause-and-effect relationship between frequent cannabis use and elevated morning cortisol.
- The research contradicts earlier studies that found CAR was blunted in frequent cannabis users, a discrepancy Cservenka said may reflect differences in analytic strategies and sample characteristics.
- Oregon State University researchers Julia Donner and Alexia Obrochta co-authored the study, which was funded by Oregon State University, the OSU Center for the Humanities, and the OSU College of Liberal Arts.
- Twenty-nine percent of adults ages 19 to 30 report using cannabis in the past 30 days, a rate nearly doubled over 15 years, and more than 10% of that age group report using it at least 20 times in 30 days — more than double the rate from 15 years ago.
- Cservenka suggested the findings could point to a feedback cycle in which a poorly regulated stress system encourages further cannabis use, warranting further investigation into cortisol as a neurobiological marker of problematic cannabis use.
Why it matters: With 29% of young adults aged 19-30 using cannabis in the past 30 days and over 10% using it 20+ times monthly, a biological signal that frequent use disrupts the body's stress-handling system — one of the top reasons people cite for using cannabis — could reshape how clinicians and users think about cannabis as a coping tool. The cortisol-at-waking difference, not the rise itself, is the new wrinkle, and the team's failure to replicate earlier blunted-CAR findings means the science is still unsettled.
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