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Building a Better Workout: Muscle Confusion 101

Building a Better Workout: Muscle Confusion 101

Whether you train seriously or have a more casual interest in personal fitness, you’ve probably heard the term “muscle confusion” at some point. Muscle confusion has been strongly associated with several at-home workout programs over the past few years (P90X is probably the best known), but the underlying training principle is much more than just marketing. In fact, it’s been producing results in one form or the other since it was introduced in the 1970s.

While there’s been a lot of debate—and, yes, confusion—in the fitness world about the general concept, much of it has to do with exactly how the term is defined and the best techniques for actually applying the idea. There’s very little meaningful disagreement about why muscles need to be challenged in different ways in order for them to continue to develop.

Over time, muscles stop responding to the same workouts with the same improvements. This is because muscles naturally adapt if they perform the same types of exercises, with the same amount of resistance, for the same number of repetitions, on the same days, week after week. At some point, they simply no longer have to grow in size or strength to accomplish what’s expected of them. This is known as a workout plateau.

The goal of muscle confusion is to take the “routine” out of a workout routine by challenging the muscles in a variety of ways that encourage them to continue adapting. This is one way to avoid or minimize plateaus. Muscle confusion falls into a category of workout techniques known as periodization and more specifically, non-linear periodization. This technique changes each week’s workout sessions to focus on different muscle properties in order to achieve specific gains in size, power and stamina. These changes also tend to burn more calories, which aids in weight loss and weight management.

Muscle confusion workouts typically use traditional strength-training exercises such as the bench press, lat pull-down, biceps curl, triceps extension, leg press, leg curl and leg extension. However, these workouts “mix them up” in at least three important ways:

  • Varying the amount of resistance from heavy to light
  • Changing the number of repetitions in each set
  • Altering the speed or pace at which the exercises are performed

A simplified example of a muscle confusion workout program might include one day a week of heavy lifting with one to four repetitions per set. The next workout day, a medium resistance might be lifted at a faster speed with one to four repetitions. The third workout day of the week, a lighter resistance might be lifted between six and 10 times starting out at a faster pace and slowing as muscle fatigue sets in.

In addition to changing the amount of weight, number of repetitions and speed involved in performing individual exercises, some experienced trainers increase the amount of muscle confusion even further by changing the order of the exercises themselves and varying the amount of time between sets.  The change in exercise sequence can be used to pre-fatigue certain muscles (for instance, by performing the triceps extension before the larger-muscle-group bench press), while a reduction in time between sets (perhaps from two minutes to 30 seconds) can be used to accelerate the break-down in muscle tissue that stimulates repair and growth. Of course, no matter which muscle confusion variations are used, the usual precautions about warming up, exercising through a full range of motion and cooling down properly all still apply. And it’s always important to allow enough time between workouts for muscles to recover.

Beyond athletic performance and looking better in a swimsuit, there are lots of good reasons to consider a weight training program. Strong, healthy muscles help to support your frame, reduce wear-and-tear on your joints and keep the body in proper alignment. Plus, researchers have discovered that building lean muscle mass can increase metabolism, which helps with weight loss and weight maintenance since muscles use more calories to sustain themselves. They’ve also found that building more muscle mass (and bone mass) throughout your early adulthood and middle-age years may translate into a lower risk of disability and a healthier, more active lifestyle in your 60s and beyond.

A well-designed weight training program—perhaps built with ideas like muscle confusion in mind—can have many benefits that last a lifetime. But remember to talk with your chiropractic physician or other healthcare provider before you begin any new fitness program, especially if you haven’t been active in a while, are recovering from an injury or illness or suspect you may have health problems. As experts in helping patients recover, maintain and improve their musculoskeletal health, we can work with you to develop a well-rounded program that achieves your goals while reducing the risk of injury. Just call or visit the office today to learn more!

Taking Responsibility for Your Health

Taking Responsibility for Your Health

We had to share a great blog post today from elsewhere on the web! We hope you will read and enjoy!

No one else is responsible for your health and your body, except for you.  No-one knows your body like you do.

You simply cannot delegate your health to anyone else and still expect to stay vibrantly well and healthy.

If you don’t take personal responsibility for creating your health, here is a very frightening, but real possibility… the results you get in your health are going to make someone else happy, but not you!

Food companies want you to become addicted to their highly refined, highly processed fake foods.  Diet companies want you to eat their diet foods. Big pharma wants you to be on prescription drugs.

These profit-driven companies are very happy to take your money but they will not take responsibility for the quality of health that you experience. If you hand over your health to them, in the hope that their illusory advertising promises are real, you may be faced with the possibility of living out a life filled with disease, food addiction, frustration, stress, anxiety, and unhappiness…

Taking responsibility for your health gives you food freedom.

You can create an incredible sense of ‘freedom around your food’, when you begin to look at your diet and your health.  When I awoke to the concept of taking responsibility for the food I ate and the thoughts I had, I started making vastly different choices for myself. I started reading food labels and studying them. I started getting proactive; asking different questions, shopping differently and eating differently.

Here are three things you can do today to begin taking responsibility for your creating your health.

1. Create an enjoyable and sustainable relationship with food.

When I began to heal my body, I knew I was going to make some changes to the way I ate, along with the way that I treated myself.   I spent time dedicated to finding a way of eating that would be sustainable for me, based on my goals, food preferences, and lifestyle.

I asked myself the question, “Can I see myself eating like this tomorrow, next week and even next year?” When I found a style of eating that worked for me, I kept it and continued to refine it as my health journey progressed.  With a few minor adjustments along the way, it is still the way I eat today – almost 12 years later!

Take care to eat foods that are as close to their natural state as you can, (with minimum intervention by man or machines and no ikky added chemicals).  Primarily I ate a plant-based diet, high in whole grains, vegetables and fruits diet that were local, seasonal and organic where possible.

Along with eating sustainably, another thing that worked for me was moving away from the idea of deprivation. Since I loved food, I knew that I needed to change my focus from the rhetoric of dieting dogma and the idea of total elimination to something far bigger and more exciting.

2. Integrate my little-known but powerful ’80-20 Rule’.

While I was searching for a way to eat that allowed me to enjoy my food and still be healthy I stumbled upon the concept of ‘the 80:20 Rule’ and I decided to apply it to what I was learning about food.

Simply put, I began to eat about 80% real, natural foods and 20% lightly processed foods. This allowed me the flexibility to enjoy healthier versions of all of my favorite foods. I loved eating nutritious food that was good for me, tasted delicious and fulfilled and satiated me.

Today I wouldn’t want to eat or live any other way!

3. Take responsibility for detoxifying your body gently.

Another key distinction was that I started paying attention to the quality of food.  I started to notice that some food was more processed and higher in toxicity than others.  I began to favor food that was less processed and therefore had fewer toxins in it. As I reduced the toxic load I was ingesting, it allowed my body to begin its’ own natural process of detoxification and self-healing.  As I began the process of gentle detoxification, my energy levels surged and to my delight, my waistline began to reduce…

Over time, I stopped eating all fake foods. This included processed and manufactured foods such as fast-foods, artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives, additives, processed and refined white flour, white sugar, high corn fructose syrup (HFCS) or glucose-fructose syrup and all dangerous trans-fats.

You don’t have to make radical changes overnight (in fact I recommend that you don’t!).  Instead, take your time to explore and find healthier substitutes for your favorite “fake foods.”  Make your changes slowly but surely.  Take baby steps to begin cleaning up your diet.

How to get started.

You do not have to be a medical doctor or a dietician to know how to get healthy or to take positive steps in the direction of taking responsibility for your wellbeing.

There are so many easy things, that anyone can do, that can radically transform your life, just like it did mine.  Remember that claiming back your health is journey. Just take one more step, and then another. Make the choice to take responsibility to find what foods work for your body and enjoy the process of carving out your personal path to vibrant health and wellbeing.

I did it, and I know that you can too.

Today’s post was written by Katrina Love Senn and has been shared from the following website: http://www.katrinalovesenn.com/index.php/articles/natural-health/82-who-is-responsible-for-your-health

Migraines and Magnesium

Migraines and Magnesium

A recent study from Iranian researchers found that there might be a link between blood levels of magnesium and migraine headaches.1

Researchers looked at 50 migraine patients and 50 healthy subjects with no history of migraine. The migraine patients had average magnesium levels of 1.86  mg/dl, while the healthy subjects had magnesium levels of 2.10 mg/dl.

The researchers didn’t find any variation in magnesium levels in patients during or between headache attacks.

Other research has confirmed a relationship between magnesium serum levels and migraine, and some headache experts recommend magnesium supplementation for migraine sufferers.2

Chiropractic has been shown to be an effective treatment for migraines, and your chiropractor can help you choose nutritional supplements and dietary changes that might be beneficial in reducing or eliminating migraines.

  1. Samaie A, Asghari N, Ghorbani R, Arda J. Blood Magnesium levels in migraineurs within and between the headache attacks: a case-control study. Pan African Medical Journal 2012. 11:46.
  2. Mauskop A, Varughese J. Why all migraine patients should be treated with magnesium. Journal of Neural Transmission 2012;119(5):575-579.
Written by: Michael Melton on May 11, 2015. This articles has been shared from the following website: https://www.chironexus.net/2015/05/migraines-and-magnesium/
4 Best Exercises for Improved Posture

4 Best Exercises for Improved Posture

Let’s face it. Good posture isn’t exactly a high priority for many Americans. Like most things related to our health and wellness, we don’t notice it until it’s gone. 

Most of us live in a sitting culture—we sit at work, we sit at school, and we sit at home. The hard truth is that most of us sit too much and sit incorrectly. Beyond this, our love affair with mobile devices is amplifying the post problem by encouraging us to bend over, hunch our shoulders and crane our necks to look at small screens. Given our lifestyle choices, poor posture may seem almost inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be that way. For anyone with a bit of mobility, motivation and time, there are exercises you can do to improve poor posture. Here are four of the best types of exercises to help you improve your posture. 

Exercises to Strengthen Your Core

A strong core is essential for good posture. Your core includes your abdominals, lower back, obliques, and hips. Strong core muscles don’t just give you an attractive “six-pack” to show off at the beach. In fact, they help hold your body up straight, improve your balance, and provide you with greater muscle control and efficiency. They’re also critical to maintaining back health and provide some measure of protection against injury. When your core muscles aren’t strong, other muscles have to compensate, which results in reduced mobility as well as weakness and even pain. So, to help avoid or reduce low back pain, try regular core training. Some core training exercises include basic crunches (but not full sit-ups), side planks, crunches with a twist, standing side bends, and plank holds. Doing Pilates is another great way to work out your core muscles, as are back extensions and slow swimming. 

Exercises to Correct Your Rounded Shoulders

Because so many people spend their day hunched over while driving, sitting at a desk while working, using a laptop, or even watching television, rounded shoulders are extremely common—but they are in fact a postural abnormality. When you spend a lot of time in these forward-reaching positions, the muscles in your chest, shoulders, and hips become shortened and tight, and at the same time, your upper and middle back muscles lose strength. In order to help avoid and ease rounded shoulders, you can do exercises that strengthen the weak upper back muscles and stretch the tight muscles in the chest, shoulders, lats, and hips. As the upper back becomes stronger and the chest becomes more flexible, the shoulders naturally pull back, which improves your posture significantly. You can strengthen the upper back with exercises such as reverse dumbbell flys as well as rows with a resistance band, while you can stretch your tight muscles by doing standing chest stretches, torso stretches, and standing quad stretches. 

Exercises to Neutralize Your Tilted Hips

Hips should be neutral and level when viewed from the side—however, some people have postural abnormalities stemming from their hips’ tendency to slant forward. This is called the anterior pelvic tilt, and it negatively affects posture. Lordosis (also known as “swayback”) is a common indication of this tilt. Seen very often in people who sit for hours every day with their legs bent, this abnormality is caused by weakness in the hamstrings, glutes, and abs as well as tightness in the hip flexors and thighs. Exercises to correct this tilt include the core exercises mentioned above as well as bridges, leg curls with a ball, and single leg hamstring flexions with a ball. Exercises that stretch tight hip and quad muscles include standing quad stretches and kneeling quad and hip stretches. 

Exercises to Retract a Forward Head

Unfortunately, you can easily develop poor posture by tilting your head forward for hours every day. This happens when you drive, when you use a laptop or tablet, or when you watch television. When you fail to retract your head while performing everyday tasks, this tightens the front and side neck muscles and weakens the deep and rear muscles of the neck. The muscles at the front of your neck have to be strong enough to hold your head directly above—not forward of—the shoulders. Not only does this abnormality contribute to poor posture, but it also causes chronic neck pain. In order to retract a forward head, elongate the back of your neck by gently pulling your chin straight in. The highest point of your body should be the top back of your head. This works against the penchant to slip into a forward head posture. You can also work on this issue while driving: practice pulling your chin in and pushing your head into the headrest behind you for a few seconds at a time, then releasing. If you have a high-backed chair that you sit in at work, you can do this at your desk as well.  

Chiropractic Adjustments Help with Pain Relief

Chiropractic Adjustments Help with Pain Relief

Johns Hopkins Medicine defines pain as “an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong.” Depending on its cause, this feeling can range from being mildly annoying to absolutely debilitating in nature, potentially preventing a person from having any quality of life whatsoever. Additionally, some pains are constant and steady, whereas others tend to come and go.

Regardless of the type, intensity, and consistency of the pain, at some point in our lives, we all experience this feeling in one form or another. However, whether or not we’re able to effectively handle it is largely determined by our individual pressure pain thresholds. In other words, the higher our thresholds, the less impact these pains have on our lives, and one fairly new study has found that chiropractic may just increase that limit.

In December of 2016, Chiropractic & Manual Therapies published a piece of research which set out to determine what effect, if any, spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) had on pressure pain threshold. Individuals were recruited from Murdoch University campus in Western Australia and, ultimately, 34 subjects ranging in age from 18 to 36 qualified for inclusion. Twenty of the participants were male, with the remaining 14 being female, all of whom were assessed at the beginning of the study and declared asymptomatic.

Using an algometer with a 1cm2 rubber probe, the participants’ deep mechanical pain sensitivity was assessed multiple times at four different sites on the body (calf, lumbar, scapula, and forehead) by asking each one to indicate the point in which the pressure turned into pain. The average of the second and third recordings was used as a baseline.

Once the initial data was recorded, each participant was then subjected to a high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation using the hypothenar mammillary push while the subject lay on his or her side. Furthermore, the thrust was aimed at the portion of the participants’ spine located between the L5 and S1 vertebrae. Upon completion, the pressure pain threshold was collected again, and then again at 10, 20, and 30 minutes after the conclusion of the treatment session.

Researchers found that, after engaging in just one session of SMT, subjects reported increases in pressure pain threshold in the calf and lumbar spine areas, with no notable reduction in the scapula or forehead. Additionally, the thresholds that did increase did so at a higher rate on the right side of the participants’ bodies than on the left.

This study shows promise for patients dealing with chronic pain issues as chiropractic adjustments seem to provide an instantaneous reduction in pain. Further research with a larger group of test subjects is warranted.

Dorron SL, Losco BE, Drummond PD, Walker BF. Effect of lumbar spinal manipulation on local and remote pressure pain threshold and pinprick sensitivity in asymptomatic individuals: a randomized trial. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2016;24:47.10.1186/s12998-016-0128-5

What is Pain/Types of Pain Treated?  Johns Hopkins Medicine: Blaustein Pain Treatment Center.

This article was written by Michael Melton on February 7, 2018, and is shared from the following website: https://www.chironexus.net/2018/02/chiropractic-adjustments-help-pain-relief/
Good Workplace Ergonomics Matter! Lessons from Medical Lab Technicians

Good Workplace Ergonomics Matter! Lessons from Medical Lab Technicians

Are the bad ergonomics of your workplace causing you chronic back or neck pain? If so, you’re not alone. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are one of the leading causes of occupational injuries and disability throughout the world. In the United States, WRMSDs cause over 647,000 days of lost work every year and result in workman’s compensation claims costing anywhere from $45 billion to $60 billion. They also account for 34% of all work-related injuries and illnesses. Examples of WRMSDs include chronic back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, sprains, and hernias. While you might assume that these types of injuries are the result of unrelated incidents or isolated situations playing out in many different environments across the country on any given day, there is actually a pattern. Many of them are caused by badly designed workplaces.

This pattern became evident in a study recently published in the Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. The researchers wanted to analyze the postures of workers in a high-tech medical laboratory to determine the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and to investigate the relationship of these musculoskeletal disorders to workers’ individual factors, their work characteristics, and their working postures.

They gathered data from the medical lab technicians, using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ, a standardized scale for measuring musculoskeletal disorders and occupational health), the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS, a type of self-reporting measurement), and RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment, a self-reported scale by which workers assess the postures that most accurately reflect their working positions). They then assessed the positions that the technicians’ lab workstations and equipment forced them to adopt for long periods of time each day and compared them with the technicians’ medical problems.

What they found was that poor lab workstation design was causing musculoskeletal problems in 73.3% of the workers. The poorer their posture was on the VAS and RULA scales, the more musculoskeletal problems they had. In addition, there was a significant difference between pre-work and post-shift reports of neck, lower back, and knee pain. In summation, the workplace design was definitely causing the WRMSDs.

There is a very real possibility that your own workplace is just as likely to put you at an increased risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. Symptoms of WRMSDs are not limited to back and neck pain—they also include joint discomfort, muscle tightening and swelling, stiffness, and feelings of numbness or “pins and needles.”

If you or your fellow workers have noticed such symptoms, you should report them to your employer and expect that they will take steps to correct any problem-causing ergonomics. In the interim, you can take some steps on your own to protect yourself from WRMSDs. You don’t have to sit at a desk that is too high or low or in a chair that puts you in an uncomfortable and unhealthy position. Modern desks and their accompanying desk chairs have controls that can be used to lower or raise them. The same applies to computers or other equipment you use every day—you can put your monitor on top of some books so that it’s more in your line of sight or make other changes to help make your workspace more ergonomic. A good place to start looking for tips on how to improve the ergonomics of your office workspace is the Occupational Safety & Health Administration Computer Workstations guide. OSHA also has similar guides for other types of work environments.

 

Chiropractic Patients Less Likely to Suffer Drug Reactions

Chiropractic Patients Less Likely to Suffer Drug Reactions

 

Most people experience back pain, and many of these patients use drugs for pain relief. A 2014 study1 found that of older adults with chronic back pain, 72% of them were using some kind of analgesic to help cope with the pain. Another study2 found that 32% of back pain patients in their analysis were using prescribed opiates for relief.

It’s unfortunate that so many patients depend on drugs for musculoskeletal aches and pains, especially when chiropractic is an effective and safe way to not only relieve pain, but also prevent future pain episodes.

Now a new study3 shows that chiropractic also is linked to a lower risk of adverse drug reactions in patients with back pain. In this study, the authors looked at the medical records of over 19,000 adults in New Hampshire who had at least two doctor visits for back pain. 9.810 of these patients used chiropractic care; 9,343 patients used regular medical care. The researchers analyzed the number of adverse drug effects (ADEs) experienced by the two groups.

The authors found:

  • Younger patients were more likely to use chiropractic care.
  • Non-chiropractic patients tended to have more health problems, in general, when compared to those who used chiropractic.
  • Chiropractic patients experienced 51% fewer adverse drug reactions (.4% vs .9%) compared to medical patients.
  • 15 non-chiropractic patients were diagnosed with drug withdrawal, while zero chiropractic patients had drug withdrawal.

This study had some limitations, as the study data didn’t included details about the types of drugs the patients were using or how frequently they were using medications. But the authors conclude that the “utilization of chiropractic care may be associated with reduced risk of ADEs; however, no causal relationship has been established.”

Another study by the same group of researchers found that chiropractic patients were 55% less likely to be prescribed opiates for their pain and had lower health care bills.

With the opiate epidemic in the US, it’s critical that we find non-opiate approaches to back pain treatment. Chiropractic is about restoring health without the use of drugs. By helping the body heal naturally, chiropractic can help you stay well and help you avoid unnecessary adverse drug reactions, too!

  1. Enthoven WT, Scheele J, Bierma-Zeinstra SM, Bueving HJ, Bohnen AM, Peul WC, van Tulder MW, Berger MY, Koes BW, Luijsterburg PA. Analgesic use in older adults with back pain: the BACE study. Pain Medicine 2014 Oct;15(10):1704-14. Doi: 10.1111/pme.12515.
  2. Ashworth J, Green DJ, Dunn KM, Jordan KP. Opioid use among low back pain patients in primary care: Is opioid prescription associated with disability at 6-month follow-up? Pain. 2013 Jul;154(7):1038-44. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2013.03.011.
  3. Whedon JM, Toler AWJ, Goehl JM, Kazal LA. Association Between Utilization of Chiropractic Services for Treatment of Low Back Pain and Risk of Adverse Drug Events. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics 2018 May 26. pii: S0161-4754(17)30136-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2018.01.004.
Today’s article was written by Michael Melton and is shared from the following website: https://www.chironexus.net/2018/06/chiropractic-patients-less-likely-to-suffer-drug-reactions/
Unintended Consequences: Marijuana Use Tied to Changes in the Brain

Unintended Consequences: Marijuana Use Tied to Changes in the Brain

Over the past few decades, growing numbers of people in the U.S. have come to think about marijuana as harmless. Others have even embraced it as beneficial under certain circumstances, pointing to its purported medical value. So it’s not too surprising that long-running legalization efforts in some states have recently led to marijuana’s decriminalization and increased availability.  However, a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience sheds new light on the subject—and its findings come out against the commonly held belief that marijuana use is completely innocuous. Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have found that even casual use of marijuana can cause structural changes to areas of the brain that control emotion, motivation, and reward.

The study analyzed 40 students between the ages of 18 to 25 in the Boston area. Half of the subjects used marijuana recreationally—at least once a week—and the other half did not use it at all. Psychiatric interviews and tests revealed that none of the students met the criteria for drug dependence, and their cannabis use did not interfere with their studies, work, or social habits. However, when using MRI scans to study the students’ brains, the researchers found changes to the volume, shape, and density of the neurons in two important areas: the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens. The changes were found to be more pronounced in people who reported using marijuana more frequently during an average week. Study leader Dr. Hans Breiter said of the findings, “There was a direct, consistent relationship between how much marijuana they used and the abnormalities we saw.”

While the brain abnormalities and their relationship to marijuana use are clear, it’s less clear what these changes to the brain’s structure might actually mean for these individuals. Breiter continues, “These are two brain regions you do not want to mess around with. All parts of the brain are important, but some, like these, are more fundamental. It raises a very serious issue, given that we saw these changes in casual marijuana users.” Previous studies had revealed similar changes in brain structure among heavy users of cannabis, but this is the first study that indicates that even casual use can alter a person’s brain.

“The earlier the onset of marijuana use in a kid, the worse potential implications you could be seeing,” Breiter said. Another study author, Jodi Gilman of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Addiction Medicine, says, “We just don’t know how much is safe. It’s not harmless. We don’t know the harm, but it’s not free from harm.”

Breiter also commented that the concentrations of THC (the psychoactive component of cannabis) are not the same as they used to be: “Levels of THC are about sevenfold what they used to be. That’s a substantial change in the dosing of THC that these young people are getting. The experience of people in the ’60s and ’70s may not be the same experience as people today.”

Interestingly, some proponents of cannabis decriminalization have welcomed the research findings. Paul Armentano, deputy director of the pro-marijuana advocacy group NORML, says that his group presents an argument for legalizing marijuana but tightly regulating it, as alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs are. He says, “It’s precisely because of these consequences that these products are legally regulated, and their use is restricted to particular consumers and specific settings. A pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for the legal, licensed commercial production and retail adult sale of marijuana but restricts its use among young people—coupled with a legal environment that fosters open, honest dialogue between parents and children about cannabis’ potential harms—best reduces the risks associated with the plant’s consumption or abuse.”

Marijuana consumption in the Netherlands—where cannabis use has been condoned but controlled since the 1980s, just as Armentano recommends for the U.S.—certainly supports his case. Despite its availability, fewer than 26% of the Dutch population has ever tried marijuana, compared with 41.9% of Americans, and the Netherlands has the lowest problem drug rate in Europe.

But this is a touchy subject, with scientific and humanitarian arguments often clashing with economic interests and many people’s moral judgments about any type of drug use. The trend toward marijuana decriminalization in America—for both medical and recreational use—seems at this point to be irreversible. The one new issue this study brings to the already heated debate is that cannabis use is NOT necessarily without long-term impact, especially on young people. More studies are needed to determine exactly what the effects of this drug actually are so that society can balance the risks and manage the costs that will inevitably come with decriminalization. Whether it’s legal or illegal, though, it’s critical for people to understand the potential consequences of marijuana use.