A lot of studies over the years have been able to prove that those who take weed believe that it has an unexplainable way of making them have more creative thoughts and ideas. This is the reason why so many artists and musicians like to patronize the trade. Scientists have also wondered how the use of weed can affect one’s creativity but the problem has been settling on a universal definition of what creativity is. It is generally conceived that it is the ability to adapt to one’s current situation and make novel connections between uncorrelated ideas or events. However, the way someone’s creativity comes up might be different from another’s.
Weed and making music
Some people agree to write their best tracks when they are on weed. Most artists confess to not having been able to give a better performance than they did when under the influence. There is a theory that goes that since weed triggers the brain’s pleasure centers and alters the sense of timing, it makes the experience of music never better at that time. Most rock musicians who play guitars prefer to use weed whenever they want to create something new and off the hook. Some artists who produce beats for music or are into disk jockeying also love to use weed to conjure the best ideas ever. Those who love to use the free music making software have also attested to the fact that smoking weed gives them great ideas. They try to record whatever they create using the software at the time they are on weed so they can do some addition to it when they become sober. There is no doubt that using weed helps these musical artists achieve their best lyrics or performances. What remains is a realistic explanation for this.
The science of how weed affects creativity
The amount of blood in the brain at any particular time could affect one’s creativity in several ways. The effect of using weed usually goes to the brain. It is known according to scientific research that the use of weed increases blood flow in the frontal lobe of the brain called the cerebellum. This increase in blood flow plays a vital part in how the brain works at that instant. It stimulates the creative drive which makes us come up with brilliant ideas. Divergent thinking, imagining several solutions to a problem, and convergent thinking helps us choose the best solution to a problem.
A professor at Harvard Medical School and a Neurologist at the Massachusetts general hospital, Doctor Alice Weaver Flaherty specializes in deep brain stimulation and how the brain and creativity are related. She said, “Marijuana is a stimulant, and most stimulants, in the short term anyway, boost output of all kinds''. This includes creativity. According to her, a very anxious and creative person may get some benefit from weed. The weed calms them down and in the process can help their creativity. However, she says that for those users of weed who are not too anxious to work, it might push them into a situation of being laid back. So what Doctor Alice means is that weed can help your creativity but the user needs to have that anxiety to want to be creative. The weed just pronounces your desires.
Lewis Nelson who is an expert in the science of weed and also a chair of the department of emergency medicine has an expert opinion on weed and creativity. Lewis is also the chief of the division of medical toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. According to him, there is a lot of literature in it and the data are fairly mixed. His findings confirm that non-creative people tend to be a little more creative when they consume a little dose of weed but those that already have a creative mindset do not gain anything extra from taking it.
Creativity may seem immeasurable but scientists can measure it objectively. For example, the number of solutions to a problem someone came up with is a measure of their divergent thinking. Weed affects divergent thinking positively in the way it affects blood flow into the brain. Lewis adds that low-dose weed for those who are not so creative will boost their creativity.
To conclude, a high dose of weed could destabilize the user and so, high doses are not advisable. If you wish to build your creativity using weeds, take a small dose once you already have some interesting ideas, and if possible set up a video recorder to capture your work while you are at it. This is because when you become sober, you could forget everything you did while you were under the influence of the weed.
