The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, looked at self-reported data from more than 600 marijuana users in states where the drug has been legalized.

The average age of users was 37.5 and was split almost down the middle in terms of sex, with slightly more males than females.

The vast majority — more than 80 percent of respondents — endorsed using cannabis in some form either directly before or directly after exercise.

Getting high and exercising also resulted in more physical activity as well.

Even after controlling for demographic factors like age and gender, co-users (those who used marijuana before or after exercise) on average took part in 43 more minutes of aerobic exercise per week and 30 more minutes of anaerobic exercise, such as weightlifting.

And co-users also surpassed the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendations of a minimum of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week by nearly 10 minutes.

“The average cannabis user in our study was exercising a lot more than your average American,” said Angela Bryan, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC-Boulder and one of the study’s authors.

“It seemed that not only were cannabis users in general exercising quite a bit, but they were combining cannabis and exercise behavior at pretty high rates,” she said.

While it’s unclear why this association appears, the study does offer some clues.

Co-users frequently cited marijuana as increasing enjoyment of exercise and aiding in workout recovery. Less frequently, they said that it helped with motivation and physical performance.

According to Dr. Bryan, it’s possible that co-users were just having more fun.

“That can help people do it for longer as well. If you’re more motivated and you’re having more fun while you’re doing it, you’re enjoyment is higher. And we know from decades of exercise work that that’s going to be associated with more physical activity,” she said.

However, the study is far from demonstrating any clear causal relationship between marijuana use and increased physical activity.

Others have weighed in saying that the self-reported nature of the study makes it hard to draw any real conclusions.

“These results may be more reflective of the fact that marijuana is a more significant part of these respondents’ overall lifestyle.” Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) told Healthline.

“It would be interesting to know if many of these respondents would similarly report that marijuana provides increased enjoyment with other routine activities, as well, such as eating dinner, watching television, playing video games, etc,” he said. “My presumption is that a similar trend would emerge if these questions were asked.”

Other confounding factors, which the authors point out, include the fact that states where marijuana is legal are “without exception more physically active than the national average.”

In short, there’s plenty of work still to be done on the issue.

But from a public health perspective, if marijuana is in fact helping some users get up off the couch instead of lounge on it, then ultimately that’s something worth investigating.