BY THE WAY ABOUT SLEEP AND AGING Speaking medically, the one side effect of marijuana that is universally reported by everyone who uses it medicinally for whatever reason is -- VASTLY IMPROVED QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF SLEEP. Scientists now believe this happens because anandamide, the natural anti-inflammatory eicosanoid whose chemical structure closely matches that of the active ingredients in marijuana, plays a regulatory role in the deep or delta wave phase of sleep. Rodents who are given a chemical anandamide-blocker suffer from a vastly reduced quality and quantity of the delta phase of sleep. The delta phase of sleep is believed by scientists to be the phase where your body repairs the micro-damage you caused to your muscles and joints and ligaments and tendons during your waking hours. So this phase of sleep is especially crucial for women as we get older. Exercise will also help you sleep. By the way, this fact is probably related to the role played by anandamide in sleep. Scientists at Geogia Tech showed that 45 minutes of running vastly increases the brain's natural production of anandamide. That's probably why it helps people sleep. Exercise also seems to play a preventive role in many illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer's. The same list of illnesses, basically, that scientists claim might be treatable using the active ingredients in marijuana. I think ten years from now, it will be recognized by scientists outside of America that many of the pain and sleep problems that come with aging are caused by a decline in the body's natural ability to produce anadamide. This science might NOT be recongized inside America within the next ten years, because Americans are too emotionally and politically and economically entangled in the Drug War to stop and listen to any objective science, even if it could save their lives. People are probably getting ready to hurl rocks at my head right now just for discussing this. Oh well. I suppose that can't be helped. -- Patricia Schwarz

Pubdate: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 Source: Salon (US Web) Copyright: 2006 Salon Contact: http://www.salon.com/about/letters/index.html Website: http://www.salon.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/381 Author: Patricia Schwarz Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)__________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman