By Ryan Hook
If you think about a musician in the ’70s you probably think of some slight mirage of a flowing, fringed clothing hippie with flare jeans and glazed eyes singing carefree on a sunny boardwalk. Also, probably the smell of weed. At any festival, show, or venue, like alcohol or cigarettes, you’re bound to come across cannabis.
The bridge between art and cannabis has not gone understated.
So, how does cannabis affect our creativity?
Feeling high
We can all probably agree that cannabis induces an intoxication of some type, yes? From head high to muscle relaxing, cannabis use piques a response.
But why does the intoxication happen?
Increased cerebral blood to the frontal lobes, insula temporal lobes, anterior cingulate, and the cerebellum.
What does that mean?
The Frontal Cortex
Your left brain is chock full of reason, analysis, and logic; and your right is known for its creativity, feeling, and imagination. The frontal lobe is like the house where the right and left brain party. The frontal lobe is essentially the control panel.
With increased blood flow to the frontal lobe due to cannabis-use, that means that the party will be bumping.
Another example of increased blood flow to your frontal lobes happens in REM sleep when you’re dreaming. Getting high is like having dreams, your brain is extra enabled and buzzing.
The Physical Effect
The physiology of increased blood flow to the frontal lobe includes increased motor functions, emotion expression, problem-solving, memory language, judgment and sexual behaviours.
Cannabis piques the frontal lobe to having these effects on mood, thus, “the doors of perception” can be opened to further creation.