Myrcene – The “Couch Lock” Terpene, Or Is It?
Oh Myrcene how those of us chronic pain sufferers love you! There are so many anecdotal reports on Myrcene that its hard not to believe them, but let’s dig deeper into what Myrcene truly is, shall we?
Myrcene is considered to be the most common dominant terpene in commercially grown cannabis today. So much so that roughly 40% of all cannabis you will purchase at a legal dispensary will have myrcene as its dominant terpene. But why? What is it that’s got people drooling over this terpene?
Image from Leafly.com
Wikipedia defines Myrcene as “Myrcene, or β-myrcene, is an alkene natural hydrocarbon. It is more precisely classified as a monoterpene. Monoterpenes are dimers of isoprenoid precursors, and myrcene is the primary component of the essential oil of the South African Adenandra Villosa, Mycerne is also found bay, cannabis, and hops.” Sooo that garble is great but what does it meaaaaan?
Myrcene is found in lemongrass, hops, and thyme. Myrcene is what makes those spicy peppery notes you smell in beer. And believe it or not humans have been using myrcene for muscle relaxation and sleep for centuries. In Mexico Lemongrass (a plant rich in myrcene) was commonly used in tea to induce relaxation and sleep. In Germany they used and still today use hops rich in myrcene for sleep aids. But there have not been any clinical studies as of yet that look at Myrcene and its ties to relaxation and sleep.
There have been studies on some of the therapeutic effects of Myrcene on lab rats. When Myrcene is administered to lab rats in large doses it has promising muscle relaxing effects. That same study also showed that these lad rats spent more time asleep when administered along side narcotics with sedative effects. But, testing on lab rats doesn’t always translate to the human world, so we know much more studies are needed for this. The National Institute of Health is looking for research proposals if you know anyone.
There was a study in the 90’s in Brazil that showed that Myrcene helped ease pain by increasing the brain and spinal chords own opioid like chemicals. More studies are needed to truly back this claim though, we have peer review for a reason. We have also shown that Myrcene helps block the cancer-causing effects of a common fungal toxin called aflatoxins that manages to make its way into our food.
To sum things up, we know Myrcene helps fight cancer-causing fungi from harming our DNA. We also know that it helps our body create pain relieving chemicals. And we also know it makes our Cannabis Delicious! But does it cause couchlock? We still don’t have clinical proof, but I’ll stick with my personal anecdotes because its worked for me, and I hope it works for you!
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Email: GettingCookedInTheKitchen@rpiccirillo85
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