THC and Ovulation: What You Should Know
With the wave of marijuana legalization has come a wave of new THC- and CBD-infused products. In particular, there’s one niche seeing a lot of attention right now — the ladies. Decades of polling data shows that men are more likely to use cannabis than women, but according to an article in High Times, that’s changing. It seems this rush to cannabis is driven primarily by the desire to solve one problem in particular: menstrual pain. There’s no shortage of articles on the subject, or of products to meet the need. But are these products creating more problems than they solve?
Recently, I’ve been reading up on the effects of cannabinoids on reproductive health, and came across a particularly enlightening review. In it, the authors describe the role of the endocannabinoid system in female reproduction. It also highlighted some ways in which THC can negatively affect reproductive health. While it mentions a spectrum of effects caused by chronic cannabis use, today I’ll be focusing on the relationship between THC and ovulation.
Ovulation: The HPO Axis
The first thing we need to understand is what’s referred to as the HPO axis. HPO is an abbreviation of Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovary. These three organs work in concert to control the process of ovulation. Because of this synergy of purpose, they are referred to…
