10 Things Smoking Weed Does To Your Body

7. Raises Heart Rate

As we’ve already mentioned, smoking weed does a bunch of things to the way blood flows through your body. In addition to decreasing blood pressure and dilating blood vessels, cannabis also raises your heart rate. This increased heart rate can last for as long as three hours after smoking.

According to the NIDA, this could make you more vulnerable to heart attacks. This is particularly the case for older people or people with existing heart conditions.

For many people, the increased heart rate is most noticeable after a heavy sesh. That can be especially true if you’ve eaten too many edibles. And while the rapid heart rate that comes from a heavy dose of weed can sometimes be alarming, it’s usually not a big deal.

In fact, one of the few things that doctors do when people panic about a possible cannabis overdose, is give them drugs to help lower their heart rate. But in most cases, there’s nothing to fear. At most, the increased heart rate will produce some anxiety-inducing discomfort. But all in all, you’ll be fine. Keep in mind that nobody has ever died from a cannabis overdose. Nobody.

One official report concluded that you’d have to consume around 1,500 pounds of weed in 15 minutes to run a risk of overdosing. And even then, it’s doubtful that you’d actually die.

At the same time, the report said that plenty of other more commonly consumed substances are way more dangerous. For example, aspirin and even potatoes are more likely to kill a person than weed. So don’t worry. If you notice increased heart rate, just wait it out. You’ll be fine.