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Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

eurekaselect.com

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Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#11

Post by somenameforme »

Subjective cognitive decline is a 'subjective' because it is perceived by the individual themselves. This means one of:

1) Weed dramatically reduces cognitive impairment.

2) Weed dramatically reduces an individual's ability to accurately asses their cognitive ability.

3) People who use weed are, for some other reason, dramatically less likely to suffer from cognitive impairment, or dramatically less able to accurately evaluate their own cognitive state.

4) The study itself is biased or flawed somehow.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#12

Post by avg_dev »

A few thoughts after having read only the abstract:

1. The decline (which is reported to be less frequent in cannabis users) is self-reported subjective cognitive decline based on users’ experience.

2. I think that one of the hallmarks of cannabis use is an immediate decline in short-term memory. I believe this usually reverses itself after some time (hours or days).

3. I have used a lot of cannabis in the past. I stopped entirely - for now - for quite some time and I think my mental acuity is currently at its peak over my lifetime and may be growing.

4. Not only is cannabis a very highly cultivated plant whose potency has been increasing a lot for decades (citation needed), there are a ton of cannabis-derived products out there today that have just a ton of THC, way more than one could get by smoking even the highest potency bud. I think this has prohably changed the game entirely. I used a few of them and I would absolutely recommend caution, far beyond the legitimate caution I would recommend for even smoking cannabis bud.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#13

Post by alwayslikethis »

mmsc wrote: post #6

Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) is the self-reported experience of worsening or more frequent confusion or memory loss. Lower odds is seemingly a good thing (if you’re somebody that enjoys retaining memory)

The issue with this is if you have memory loss, you may also have memory loss about the memory loss, so lower numbers here may actually not reflect a real increase in memory retention.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#15

Post by fnordlord »

j4hdufd8 wrote: post #4

Just to be clear, 96% decreased odds of cognitive decline = good? Rather confusing way to put it

Thanks. I was having such a hard time parsing this that I was beginning to have my own experience of subjective cognitive decline. Glad to know I'm not alone.

So those that get stoned are more confident in their mind's ability than those that don't?

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#16

Post by bigyikes »

Cognitive decline is scary, because if it happens gradually enough, you wouldn’t even realize it’s happening.

Was I sharper a few years ago? Maybe, I really couldn’t tell you, and it’s not like I’ve been taking cognitive evaluations to check.

Scary thoughts.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#17

Post by gjvc »

dougmwne wrote: post #10
j4hdufd8 wrote: post #4

Just to be clear, 96% decreased odds of cognitive decline = good? Rather confusing way to put it

No, of subjective cognitive decline. Not decline as measured through testing, decline as self-reported. Basically pot makes you less self-aware.

Basically pot makes you less self-aware.

Which is exactly the effect some people are seeking with it.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#18

Post by krisoft »

dougmwne wrote: post #10
j4hdufd8 wrote: post #4

Just to be clear, 96% decreased odds of cognitive decline = good? Rather confusing way to put it

No, of subjective cognitive decline. Not decline as measured through testing, decline as self-reported. Basically pot makes you less self-aware.

> Basically pot makes you less self-aware.

That is one interpretation, yes. But not the only possible one.

Is it good? Maybe. Maybe not good but neutral. Maybe actually bad. More research is needed.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#19

Post by hsnewman »

dougmwne wrote: post #10
j4hdufd8 wrote: post #4

Just to be clear, 96% decreased odds of cognitive decline = good? Rather confusing way to put it

No, of subjective cognitive decline. Not decline as measured through testing, decline as self-reported. Basically pot makes you less self-aware.

That is not what is being said.

Re: Association between cannabis use and subjective cognitive decline

#20

Post by Handprint4469 »

somenameforme wrote: post #11

Subjective cognitive decline is a 'subjective' because it is perceived by the individual themselves. This means one of: 1) Weed dramatically reduces cognitive impairment. 2) Weed dramatically reduces an individual's ability to accurately asses their cognitive ability. 3) People who use weed are, for some other reason, dramatically less likely to suffer from cognitive impairment, or dramatically less able to accuratel…

From my personal experience, having several friends that have been smoking since high school up to now (mid 30s), it's definitely 2).
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