Can Cannabis Help You Focus?

Here on the Revolutionary Clinics blog we’ve talked about how cannabis can help athletes of all abilities to perform better, by aiding recovery after a particularly tough work out and improving focus.

If the idea of cannabis helping you concentrate is hard to believe, you’re not alone. As we discussed in our recent post about cannabis for creativity, there are strong opinions on both sides of the cannabis for focus argument. There’s also precious little research to support either case which makes offering concrete advice even more challenging. Nevertheless, Training and Development Manager Andrew Elk is a firm believer that cannabis can improve your focus. Specifically:

Cannabis is a potential alternative to prescription ADD medications

“A lot of people will use sativas to replace ADD medication,” Andrew explains. Most ADD medications are stimulants designed to help people with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to pull thoughts together and connect them. Unfortunately, the side effects of these medications include anxiety, heart palpitations and loss of appetite which often results in unhealthy binge eating. “Several patients have told me that their ADD meds make them feel like they’re vibrating all the time,” Andrew continues. “With cannabis, they get the benefit of having the chemistry of their brain come into balance without those side effects.”

How is this possible? In a 2014 article on Leafly.com, Dr. David Bearman states: “Cannabis appears to treat ADD and ADHD by increasing the availability of dopamine…it has the same effect but is a different mechanism of action than stimulants like Ritalin (methylphenidate) and dexedrine amphetamine, which act by binding to the dopamine and interfering with the metabolic breakdown of dopamine.”

Contrary to the “lazy stoner stereotype” different cannabis strains have uplifting effects that inspire focus and energy

As we discussed in our recent post about cannabis and creativity, cannabis affects people differently but as a general rule, sativa strains are energizing. This extra energy enables you to shake the cobwebs out of your brain, cast aside distracting thoughts and focus on the task at hand. There are some strains like Mr. Clean that are all about getting you up, moving and onto the physical, repetitive tasks you dread doing like folding laundry or vacuuming your home. “A lot of people think cannabis makes you zone out but there are some strains that make me zone in to the point where all I want to do is read a book,” Andrew says. “It’s all about finding the right one for you, dialing in the dose and journaling the results.”

By alleviating debilitating symptoms, cannabis has helped patients suffering from chronic pain to find focus skills they never knew they had

Think about it. It’s hard to do anything, much less focus on a complex work project, when you’re struggling with any kind of physical pain. At Revolutionary Clinics, we’ve helped hundreds of people dealing with chronic pain to reclaim their lives by enabling them to do things that were previously impossible. When you no longer have to use your mental energy to fight feelings of pain and discomfort, you’re free to think, process, concentrate and understand in ways you never could before.

Microdosing cannabis is gaining acceptance for its ability to enhance focus through “sub-psychoactive” doses

Just as ‘grazing’ (eating many small meals throughout the day) is touted by weight loss experts as a way to feel full all day while eating less and losing weight, two doctors were recently advocated for taking the same approach with cannabis. In a recent article on Leafly, Dr. Michelle Ross stated: “I have a lot of chronic health problems including neuropathy and fibromyalgia and cannabis has been the only thing that has enabled me surmount them.” In the same article, Dr. Dustin Sulak an osteopathic physician in Maine said: ““I find that a sub-psychoactive dose of cannabis helps me stay healthy, reduce stress, and stay sharp and focused at work.”

Both of these doctors recommend taking anywhere from 1-3 milligrams of THC. Dr. Sulak suggests working with a tincture for precise dosing. He suggests an initial dose of one drop that is then increased by one drop every half hour. Dr. Sulak then suggests stopping just after you start feeling the medical benefits and just before you feel the psychoactive benefits, a process he explains on his website. That’s a balancing act for sure and yet another reason why we always recommend journaling to help you find the right dosing plan for you.

It’s worth repeating that cannabis affects everyone differently and what improves the focus of one person could have the opposite effect on someone else. As always, it’s best to “start low and go slow” and making sure you write down everything you’re feeling and how much medicine you took in a journal. If you have questions about anything we’ve written in this post or would like more information about any of our products, please fill out the form on our website and we’ll get right back to you!