Aerobic exercise training reduces cannabis craving and use in non-treatment seeking cannabis-dependent adults

Background

Cannabis dependence is a significant public health problem. Because there areno approved medications for this condition, treatment must rely onbehavioral approaches empirically complemented by such lifestyle change asexercise.

Aims

To examine the effects of moderate aerobic exercise on cannabis craving anduse in cannabis dependent adults under normal living conditions.

Design

Participants attended 10 supervised 30-min treadmill exercise sessionsstandardized using heart rate (HR) monitoring (60–70% HRreserve) over 2 weeks. Exercise sessions were conducted by exercisephysiologists under medical oversight.

Participants

Sedentary or minimally active non-treatment seeking cannabis-dependent adults(n = 12, age 25±3 years, 8 females) met criteriafor primary cannabis dependence using the Substance Abuse module of theStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).

Measurements

Self-reported drug use was assessed for 1-week before, during, and 2-weeksafter the study. Participants viewed visual cannabis cues before and afterexercise in conjunction with assessment of subjective cannabis craving usingthe Marijuana Craving Questionnaire (MCQ-SF).

Findings

Daily cannabis use within the run-in period was 5.9 joints per day(SD = 3.1, range 1.8–10.9). Average cannabis uselevels within the exercise (2.8 joints, SD = 1.6, range0.9–5.4) and follow-up (4.1 joints, SD = 2.5,range 1.1–9.5) periods were lower than during the run-in period (bothP<.005). Average MCQ factor scores for the pre- and post-exercise cravingassessments were reduced for compulsivity (P  = .006),emotionality (P  = .002), expectancy (P = .002), and purposefulness (P = .002).

Conclusions

The findings of this pilot study warrant larger, adequately poweredcontrolled trials to test the efficacy of prescribed moderate aerobicexercise as a component of cannabis dependence treatment. Theneurobiological mechanisms that account for these beneficial effects oncannabis use may lead to understanding of the physical and emotionalunderpinnings of cannabis dependence and recovery from this disorder.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00838448","term_id":"NCT00838448"}}NCT00838448]