Our Tips on How to Lower THC Tolerance Fast
If you’re smoking cannabis daily, you may have been surprised to discover that THC tolerance develops rather quickly. Although it varies from person to person, you’ll eventually find that it’s no longer having much of an effect, if any.
If you’ve been experiencing this, you may also have heard that your best solution is to take a tolerance break. This is the quickest and easiest solution, but for many people, it’s a less-than-ideal solution.
How Do I Lower My High Tolerance?
When you first start to experience higher tolerance, it may not seem so bad; you can smoke more and control your highs more easily. After a while, however, you’ll find that you just can’t get high. You’ll start buying more, spending more money, with no results.
This is where you need to be careful, as the negative effects of not smoking the amount you’ve become accustomed to may appear, such as restlessness, irritability, and difficulty sleeping. At that point, what can you do?
If you don’t want to take a break but want to lower your tolerance, keep reading.
Does Smoking Lower Your Tolerance?
If you’re smoking a large amount each day, you might want to try cutting back. The more you smoke, the more you’ll need to smoke to maintain your high. As you smoke throughout the day, you’ll find you are experiencing a decrease in the effect.
If you prefer not to cut back on the number of times you smoke each day, then you can get a similar effect by reducing the quantity of each smoke. Normally smoke bong bowls? Save that for later in the day when you want a greater effect and choose a pipe instead. If you are using a vaporizer, you can cut the amount in half while still getting a similar high. Try smoking less while mixing up your smoking method.
Is a 2-Week Tolerance Break Enough?
If you’re a daily smoker, some might tell you that taking a few days off is enough. That’s enough time to start waking your CB1 receptors, but to get proper results, you’ll need at least 2 weeks. If you manage to go 3 or 4 weeks, the effect will be even more noticeable.
During this time, consuming some THC is possible, though a complete break will provide the best results. If you’re relying on cannabis for medicinal purposes, you can try CBD, which offers some of the same relief as cannabis, but without the THC.
Does Working Out Lower Tolerance?
Many people will tell you that working out right after smoking can enhance your high. In fact, it has been definitively demonstrated that exercising for about 30 minutes can increase the amount of THC in your blood.
Exercise also has other effects, not the least of which is improving your general health, which helps your body get the THC where it needs to be. It also releases endorphins, which create their own type of high. You’ll feel good while needing to smoke less.
Exercise can also help by burning fat. THC is fat-soluble and while you are exercising, your body is busy burning fat cells. Your body fat can store THC for months, but exercising can get it out, which is why those who need to pass a drug test might try exercising immediately before.
By exercising and burning fat, you’re moving THC out of your body faster, which is similar to taking a break. Conversely, those who are out of shape will typically have a higher THC tolerance.
What Are Other Ways to Lower My Tolerance?
For some, the above will be enough, but if you’re still looking for other ways to reduce your tolerance, a few other methods include:
Don’t Wake and Bake
When you smoke early in the morning, you’ll have to smoke more over the remainder of the day to maintain that same high. Wait until the afternoon, or at least until after lunch, when you have eaten a good-sized meal.
Switching Strains
If you’re always using the same strain, it may be time to try something new, especially if you have a preference between Sativa and Indica strains. These strains develop tolerance in different ways, so switching between them makes it easier to keep a lower tolerance.
Change Your Routine
If you’re accustomed to smoking at a specific time, such as after a meal, adjust your schedule to smoke during a different time of day. When you follow a routine, your body and mind become conditioned to expect it. Smoking at different times when your system is not expecting it can help you get a better high.
Try Other Methods of Getting High
Similar to switching strains or changing your routine, changing your method of consumption can also help. Vaping, for example, gets you much higher than smoking for the same amount of weed. It also provides a different experience, with those who vape commenting that it gives a “cleaner” high, leaving them feeling more energetic. It also does not produce smoke, meaning it will not dry your mouth as much, will not produce the same carcinogens, and will not leave as much smell.
Another option is using concentrates. As the name implies, concentrates have a greater proportion of cannabinoids and terpenes than raw cannabis flowers, having had all excess plant material removed. They can be taken on their own, put into edibles, or added to a joint, increasing its potency. Although you may sometimes hear the terms concentrate and extract used interchangeably, they are not quite the same; extracts will use solvents to pull out the desired components, while concentrates are created using mechanical means. The most common method of consuming a concentrate is dabbing, which heats the concentrate to the point where it evaporates, creating a potent vapour to inhale.
See our Cannabis Vaporizers & E-cigs here
Of all these methods, the most effective remains taking a break. If you attempt the other methods and they don’t seem to be working for you, then a break may be called for. It won’t be fun, but the results will be worth it.