How To Effectively Prevent or Reduce Your Coughing Caused By Weed

If you browse on the internet, you will find many articles, or even news, about the effects of smoking marijuana on your lungs and overall health. These reports can vary and they are oftentimes inconclusive.

There is a very interesting study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society by Donald Tashkin, who wrote about the Effects of Marijuana Smoking on the Lungs.

Research: Some Incredible Findings

Donald Tashkin is one of the most outstanding and well-known researchers in the area of how smoking weed , such as strains sold by BudStars, can affect the respiratory system.

With three-decade research under his belt, he discovered that even if someone collectively smoked 20,000 cannabis joints, the risk for lung cancer did not increase. He also found that those using marijuana smoke significantly fewer joints in comparison to tobacco smokers.

Tashkin also discovered that THC, which is one of the main compounds found in the cannabis plant and the one with psychoactive properties, can potentially offer anti-tumoral effects. What this finding means is that cells could die before they become old enough to develop into cancerous cells.

The Unwanted Effect: Cough

This same researcher also found that about 25% of marijuana smokers have a chronic cough. This type of cough can cause shortness of breath, and increased levels of phlegm. This cough can resolve on its own after the individual gives up all smoking.

It is a commonly known fact that smoking in general comes with certain risks. When smoking weed, you expose yourself to potential elements that can be harmful to your health. Even if smoking marijuana isn’t as dangerous as smoking tobacco, and you may avoid some serious health illnesses, you still experience unpleasant effects, such as irritation in the lungs and severe coughing.

Tashkin explains that habitual smoking of cannabis can cause “visible and microscopic injury to the large airways that are consistently associated with an increased likelihood of symptoms of chronic bronchitis.” He claims that this chronic coughing is a short-term issue that can be helped.

Effective Strategies To Ease Your Chronic Cough

Chronic cough can take the fun away from using marijuana. So here are a few tips that can potentially help alleviate your symptoms.

• Smaller Dips and Deep Breaths. If you have some intense coughing after a big dip, this might be because your lung capacity isn’t able to handle a large amount of smoke at once. Taking smaller hits might ease your coughing. Also, because the smoke from marijuana is thicker and moves more slowly, taking a deeper inhale might help as well. If you wish to find out exactly what your lung capacity is, you can easily do so via a spirometry test. This test will show how much air you can exhale in a single breath.
• Have a Non-Alcoholic Drink at Hand. When your lungs become irritated resulting in coughing, drinking a glass of water might help. Another good remedy might be tea (such as peppermint) with honey it, this is known to soothe the irritation in the throat as well. For a better result, it is recommended to drink from your water, or tea, often, such as before smoking, during, and after. Make sure you stay hydrated at all times because this can limit or decrease your symptoms.
• When Using a Bong, Add a Percolator. A percolator is an added water chamber that allows you to add extra water. This results in an increased smoke to water ratio, which ensures a smoother hit upon inhale. This should decrease your risk of coughing.
• Choose High-Quality Cannabis and Grind It at Home. You can define a strain’s quality by factors such as the cultivation process, the way it is stored, and the amount of time it has been stored. You do not want to consume moldy weed. At the dispensary, you could also ask whether marijuana contains herbicides or pesticides. Try to avoid poorly cured and dried cannabis.
• Consider Eating It, and Not Smoking It. Smoking weed has been the longest and more common way of using marijuana, and even though many still prefer it because it provides fast-acting effects, it is not the only way to enjoy the benefits it has to offer. Edibles are a great and healthy alternative to smoking. The effects take a bit longer to kick in, but they can be just as potent and effective (sometimes even more so). You have so many options with edibles. You can buy delicious products, or you can bake some for yourself at home.