Have you ever heard of a certain cultivar creating a “head high” or a “body high?” While it’s true that different cannabis cultivars can elicit different feelings and experiences, “head high” and “body high” may be descriptors too simplistic to sum up this complex plant’s impact on your body and mind. Read on to find out more about what contributes to the cannabis consumption experience and why it varies from product to product, and even from person to person.
The challenge of defining head high and body high
Before explaining what contributes to the subjective experience of consuming cannabis, it’s important to define “head high” and “body high.” Immediately, doing so becomes an apparent challenge: what exactly is a head high or a body high? Ask two people and you’ll get two different answers. Commonly, you may hear someone describe a body high as feeling sluggish or physically relaxed, and you may hear that a head high means feeling deep in your thoughts, focused, motivated, or energetic.
But putting that feeling into words isn’t as easy as saying you want to feel a body high or a head high. For example, if a pharmacist asks which effects someone wants from their cannabis experience and they reply “heady,” what that means is not precisely clear. To the pharmacist, there’s no way to tell if they mean a calmer or more stimulated mind, a physical sensation or a psychological effect.
Rather than split these psychological and physical effects into a false dichotomy of head high or body high, Ethos pharmacist Andrew Atterbury says it’s better to acknowledge they exist in tandem. While a given cultivar might promote creativity or euphoria — psychological effects — it might also excel at alleviating pain and providing soothing physical sensations. To call this either a head high or body high narrows the scope of therapeutic effects cannabis offers.
Cannabis and the entourage effect
The complex characteristics of cannabis can be credited to the cornucopia of compounds working together to influence how you feel. This is known as the entourage effect, which is theorized to be the way phytocannabinoids and terpenes influence the endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS) together. While we don’t yet know precisely how the entourage effect works, we do know that it exists, and it’s responsible for producing a wide range of both physical and psychological effects, not just a head high or a body high.
It’s all about the content of your cannabis product
As a complex plant with hundreds of compounds, each of which offers its own set of contributions to the larger whole, most cultivars and product types actually offer elements of both the psychological and physical. To help determine if a product contributes to a head high or a body high, take a closer look at these things:
- Phytocannabinoids: The phytocannabinoids present in a cannabis product, and the ratio in which they appear, can influence whether psychological or physical effects are more pronounced. For example, the presence of CBD dampens the intoxicating impact of THC, which may feel less “heady.”
- Terpenes: Terpenes may be most known for the scents and flavors they create, but there’s also some evidence that terpenes could contribute to that “head high” or “body high” feeling. For example, myrcene is thought to excel at both alleviating pain and promoting relaxation.
- Product type and method of consumption: The type of cannabis product you choose and how you consume it also influences your experience. Inhaling a high-THC cannabis product will typically result in a fast onset of effects and intense intoxication shortly after consumption, for example, while orally ingesting an edible will usually result in a slower onset of effects and longer duration.
And while both offer psychological and physical effects of their own, some consumers may experience one or the other more strongly depending on the product type. For example, many consumers swear edibles enhance physical sensations in a way that inhaling cannabis does not. - The amount you consume: Finally, the amount you consume influences how you feel, both physically and psychologically. Consuming an excessive dose of THC, for example, will lead to more pronounced psychological effects, such as heightened anxiety, and physical effects, like a racing heartbeat.
Although each of these factors plays a role in how cannabis affects you, remember that cannabis consumption experiences are highly individualized, subjective, and context-dependent. Anecdotal evidence that a particular cultivar or product elicits certain effects may serve as a guide, but no two people are the same. Your experience with the same product could be fundamentally different. The best way to know how a strain or cannabis product will affect you is simply to try it.
Understand the effects of cannabis to choose the right product for you
Cannabis is complex and affects everyone differently, but a good place to start is to look at the THC:CBD ratio. A product with a higher THC content is more likely to create an intoxicating “head high” experience, whereas a product higher in CBD content is more likely to have a less intoxicating “body high” experience. Whichever you prefer, Ethos has a product to suit your goals; talk to an Ethos associate today to find your next favorite cannabis product.
