If you’ve noticed all the weed consumption is burning a hole in your wallet, and that isn’t good, it’s probably a good time to consider taking a tolerance break.
It’s a short, tough road, but you will be much better off by being patient and taking the time to go through with it. So here it is, the art of the tolerance break.
Table of Contents
What Is a Tolerance Break?
Do you remember the days when one toke off of the blunt would have you drooling high? Back when you first started smoking cannabis regularly, you had a very low tolerance, and your little stash of weed probably lasted you a lot longer. You’ve probably noticed that nowadays you have to smoke a lot more weed a lot more often just to feel like you used to feel when you first started to get high on the regular.
A tolerance break is exactly what it sounds like: a break from using cannabis to lower your tolerance.
Over time your body can build a tolerance to THC. It also builds a tolerance to other cannabinoids, including CBD, so if you’re not feeling the product like you used to, a tolerance break might be worth a shot. You probably noticed that smoking isn’t the same as it was the very first time because you need more and more weed to feel high.
Taking a tolerance break will hopefully allow your body to get higher off of smaller amounts of weed, which saves you a lot of money, and will help you feel the product like you used to.
Marijuana isn’t known to be as highly physically addictive as many other types of substances. However, substances affect everyone differently. This means that while you may really like smoking weed, you should still be able to give it a break and not crave it like a smoker fiends for nicotine, or an alcoholic needs his whiskey. However, you may be psychologically dependent on cannabis, meaning that it may be a hard path to go down.
How to Take a Tolerance Break (Step-By-Step)
Taking a tolerance break is your conscious decision, and you can choose how you do it, and for how long. Most smokers just stop using cannabis for a few days and then start up again. Others stop smoking and completely clear their bodies of any traces of cannabinoids by performing a THC cleanse.
Both methods will effectively get the job done, but since this can be hard for you psychologically, pay attention to how you’re feeling before you decide how thorough you want to be.
Step 1: Set a Goal Date Range for your Tolerance Break
A tolerance break should last on average 3-7 days. On average, THC has the highest concentration in your body 72 hours after you smoke. After this amount of time, it starts to dissipate and flush from the body. Usually, a cleanse of 30 days will have you back to the times you were first getting high.
The short route is to take a 3-day break from cannabis, but if you want a more efficient cleanse, you can always detox your body. If you can’t go three days without smoking, try taking longer breaks in between the times you smoke. For example, if you smoke in the morning and in the afternoon, try just smoking in the afternoon for a few days.
Keep in mind that every person’s body runs a little differently. If you’re smaller and slimmer and things go through you at a faster rate (yes, I mean pee), you will most likely be on the shorter end of the time spectrum. The time difference will mostly depend on your individual habits, including your height and weight, eating and sleeping habits, physical activity, and more.
Step 2: Get Rid of the Temptations
The best way to do it is to finish what you have before you start the tolerance break so that you aren’t tempted to smoke during your break. It helps to clean and put all of your smoking tools somewhere out of sight, to further separate yourself from temptation. A little bit of cleaning goes a long way, too. Open your windows and air the place out. You don’t want to smell weed the whole time you’re trying to stop smoking weed.
Step 3: Keep Yourself Busy During the Tolerance Break
You can spend the time off by hiking or biking to sweat the final traces out. During this time, you should try to feed yourself very healthy foods, drink plenty of water, and exercise, as these three things will help you get the leftovers out of your body. Flushing as well as taking a break will allow you to go longer without having to take another tolerance break in a few weeks.
Aside from that, just eat some small healthy meals, and exercise to combat sleeplessness. Be productive, and keep your mind occupied with your hobbies or find a new TV show to binge on.
Step 4: Stay Strong Until the End of the Tolerance Break
When taking your tolerance break you need to stay in the mindset that you will get to your goal and will reap the reward. For those that drop out early during their tolerance break, it may have helped very slightly but not comparable to if you last the entire 7 to even 30 days.
The Effects of Taking a Tolerance Break
Like anything you habitually do to yourself, a tolerance break can affect your mind and body.
You are going to be very cranky, especially if you’re a heavy smoker. Heavy smokers actually get so used to smoking so much cannabis that they can actually psychologically feel like they’re having withdrawal symptoms, like a decreased appetite and the inability to get comfortable.
Most people that do a tolerance break begin having trouble falling or staying asleep during the time they’re spending on the break. Loss of appetite is also a very common problem during a tolerance break since a lot of people smoke cannabis to stimulate their appetites. Use this time to focus on eating healthier things when you do eventually get an appetite!
On the positive side, your wallet will thank you.
You are going to save a lot of money by taking a short tolerance break, because when you get back into smoking, you won’t need to smoke as much weed to get high, meaning you won’t need to even buy as much as you currently do. It’s also going to make you really appreciate reuniting with cannabis when it’s all said and done.
From my experience, the first time consuming cannabis after a long break felt so great because you are able to enjoy all the effects of it without tolerance. You’ll also just feel really accomplished and on top of the world because you have a lot of self-control and were able to get through the tolerance break!
