How to Properly Maintain Your Tolerance of Cannabis: Cycling
Here's why cannabinoid and terpene cycling should be a part of your regime.
Have you ever heard the saying "The path isn't a straight line, it's a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths"? Let's just say, the same can be said when it comes to our cannabis. We can have a favorite strain we consume frequently; daily, but our appreciation for it can improve if we take a break, experiencing other types of highs and stones; scents and flavors.
A cannabis connoisseur will tell you it isn't good to consume the same strain for too long, tarnishing both our tolerance levels and curiosity to try new things. This is where cannabis cycling becomes an important technique to all regular consumers.
Discover More: 7 Rules Cannabis Connoisseurs Abide By
In fact, it's more important for us to cycle through the strains we consume in order to maintain proper tolerance levels. The more we smoke or eat of the same strain, the more our body becomes accustom to it, naturally building a tolerance. This causes us to consume more to feel the same effects we're after. Suddenly changing the cannabinoid and terpene ratios of the strain we smoke/eat will throw our body off, and we will respond to it differently and with less tolerance.
Cannabis Cycling to Maintain Tolerance: How To
It's an easy concept: consume a strain for a given amount of time and switch to a different strain with opposite (or very different) ratios of CBD, THC, and terpenes. You can switch strains anywhere from every day to every other week, and you can choose to cycle through as many strains as you wish.
Keep in mind it can take up to four weeks for your tolerance level of a strain to dull down and have similar effects as your first-time experience with it (if you've consumed it for a long time). It's recommended you cycle through four strains, a week each, so your body has enough time to break down its tolerances.
Cycling for Medical Consumers
If you intake cannabis to control or maintain an ailment, you might be wondering how you can cycle strains while requiring a specific cannabinoid. For example, let's say you need a higher percentage of CBD in your strain to maintain chronic pain. You have several options:
- Find strains high in CBD but with various levels of THC - low/none, normal, and high.
- Find strains high in CBD but with various terpenes present in them.
- Find strains with different ratios of CBD but similar levels of THC.
- Find strains with different terpenes and THC levels, but similar CBD levels.
The main objective is to "shock" your system with different ratios of all the cannabinoids and terpenes present. So long as you switch to a strain with different THC, CBD, and/or terpene ratios, you'll be effectively tricking your system into resetting tolerances.
If you've been consuming the same strain for while and simply want to reset your cannabis tolerance levels, check out this article:
How to Reset Your Physical & Psychoactive Response to Cannabis