Alcohol 'more damaging to brain health than marijuana' With marijuana legalization on the rise, an increasing number of studies are exploring the drug's potential harms and benefits. However, a new study suggests that when it comes to brain health, alcohol is more damaging. Marijuana vs. alcohol: Which is worse? For this latest study, Thayer and colleagues sought to learn more about how marijuana use affects the brain. Study co-author Kent Hutchison, also of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, notes that to date, studies that have investigated this association have produced mixed results. "When you look at these studies going back years," he explains, "you see that one study will report that marijuana use is related to a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus. The next study then comes around, and they say that marijuana use is related to changes in the cerebellum [...]." Teen marijuana use may lead to bipolar symptoms later on Researchers have linked marijuana use in adolescence to a greater risk of bipolar symptoms. "The point is that there's no consistency across all of these studies in terms of the actual brain structures." With the aim of closing the gap on this inconsistency, the researchers conducted a new analysis on existing brain imaging data. They looked at how marijuana use affects white matter and gray matter in the brain, and how its effects compare with another "drug" that we have become so accustomed to: alcohol. Gray matter is the tissue on the brain's surface that primarily consists of nerve cell bodies. White matter is the deeper brain tissue that contains myelinated nerve fibers, which are branches protruding from nerve cells that transmit electrical impulses to other cells and tissues.
The team notes that any reduction in the size of white or gray matter or a loss in their integrity can lead to impairments in brain functioning. "With alcohol, we've known it's bad for the brain for decades," notes Hutchison. "But for cannabis, we know so little."
https://samarpan1sanopraya.wixsite.com/samarpanÂ
https://www.facebook.com/Samarpan-338996406630365/Â