One of the biggest drivers for brain aging is smoking marijuana according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The study, done by scientists from Amen Clinics, Google, John’s Hopkins University, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, San Francisco, evaluated 62,454 brain scans of more than 30,000 people from 9 months old to 105 years old and looked at “regional cerebral blood flow in the brain that is reduced in various disorders.”
According to the researchers, the study found that schizophrenia, marijuana abuse, bipolar disorder, ADHD and alcohol abuse are among the top things that can age your brain.
“The cannabis abuse result was especially important, as our culture is starting to view marijuana as a harmless substance,” said Dr. Daniel G. Amen, psychiatrist and lead author of the study. “This study should give us pause about it.”
Marijuana abuse was found to age the brain by 2.8 years. Schizophrenia is said to age the brain by 4 years, bipolar disorder by 1.6 years, ADHD by 1.4 years and alcohol abuse by 0.6 years.
