Until or unless you are living under a rock, you must’ve heard about CBD. It’s literally everywhere; there are CBD oils, CBD creams, CBD lotions, CBD gummies, CBD cookies, CBD drinks, CBD clothes, and even CBD treats for your furry friends.
It has become this god-sent-like thing that can provide you relief from pain, make you sleep better, reduce your anxiety, improve your focus, and it does it all without causing any side effects.
Being a natural compound formed in cute little hemp and cannabis plants, it has no reported severe side effects as compared to traditional medicines that you take for your ailments. But what exactly is CBD? And can it actually improve your performance? Well, that’s exactly what we will find out in this article, so buckle up for an amazing journey through the CBD world.
What Is CBD?
CBD stands for cannabidiol. It is a naturally occurring compound that is present in hemp (Cannabis sativa) and cannabis (Cannabis sativa and indica) plants. There are more than hundreds of cannabinoids present in hemp and cannabis plants, and CBD is one of the most researched and used cannabinoids out of all.
Hemp plants have a much higher concentration of CBD as compared to the psychoactive cannabinoid THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the thing that can make you high, stoned, and kind of trippy, but CBD is completely non-psychoactive.
The cannabis plants are opposite in the way they have a high THC amount and a low CBD amount. All the CBD products that you see are generally made with hemp plants and have a next-to-nil amount of THC in them, generally not more than 0.3%.
Various studies show that CBD has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anxiolytic properties, which has resulted in the popularity of CBD products for dealing with chronic pain and anxiety disorders.
In some early clinical trials, CBD has shown great potential in the treatment of certain neurological disorders as well, like epilepsy, neuropathic pain, migraine, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and motor neuron diseases. Also, CBD has become a major choice for reducing the symptoms of PTSD in veterans and people with traumatic childhood memories.
You must be hooked by now, right? Well, if you’d like to experience these therapeutic benefits firsthand, then you may start with a few drops of peppermint-flavored,bang-for-buck CBD oil from Colorado Botanicals, which is an ISO-certified CBD manufacturer with high-quality products and good approval ratings from consumers.
You might also like their full-spectrum sleep gummies; they come preloaded with melatonin and lemon balm herb extract and can help you ease into sleep after a long and stressful day. All of their products are made with organic hemp and 100% natural ingredients.
Can CBD Help Your Performance?
Now that you know what CBD is, let’s move on to the next part: can it boost our performance? Well, in short, yes! CBD can help your performance. But how? Let’s try to understand in detail.
Elite athletes and people with a very active lifestyle often find themselves with sore muscles and body aches after a strenuous training session. When you run, cycle, lift heavy weights, or perform other such activities, your muscles start to break down; sometimes you’ll even see inflammation in certain areas.
This can severely impact your next training session, and a slow recovery can hinder your personal record goals. Relying on general painkillers all the time might even harm your kidneys in the long term.
This is where CBD comes in. A fairly recent 2023 study, published on the National Library of Medicine site, shows that CBD can definitely improve performance and recovery. It states that new evidence gathered through human trials shows that CBD intake can improve satellite cell differentiation in muscles, which further results in improved muscle recovery, performance, and strength. One finding showed the positive impact of CBD on the recovery of damaged muscles within 72 hours of 60mg CBD administration in athletes through supplements.
Now there’s enough data to show that CBD can help athletes feel better before upcoming competitions. It can improve their recovery, help them to rest and sleep better, reduce insomnia and nightmares, reduce stress, boost mood during training, deflate muscles after intense sessions, and reduce pain and soreness levels.
Many more such interesting clinical trials are happening right now globally, where athletes, doctors, scientists, and therapists are actively testing CBD on athletes to improve their performance, agility, and recovery. Mainly in countries like the US, Germany, Uganda, Morocco, and Costa Rica, where rules around CBD usage have become more relaxed.
How CBD Works for Recovery And Its Acceptance in Sports?
CBD does this by making changes on a physiological level. It influences the working of the Endocannabinoid system, a complex network of cells and receptors that is responsible for balancing the state of homeostasis. The ECS system controls the functioning of happy hormone (endorphins) release, dopamine release, brain plasticity, and fatty acid hydrolase release.
All these activities determine how we assess and perceive pain, how we feel emotionally, how we learn new things, form nerve connections, and control inflammation as well. CBD also increases the rate of oxygen consumption and improves pleasure rating during long endurance activities like distance running and cycling.
The growing acceptance and the science backed evidence in favor of CBD have led to its removal from the controlled substance list by The World Anti-Doping Agency. Now athletes are free to use CBD products for their recovery and performance, and can not be banned from competitions for having CBD in their system.
Conclusion
CBD has now become widely accepted in the sports industry due to its healing effects, which can help athletes recover and perform better. There’s enough scientific data to corroborate this, and even the World Anti-Doping List has removed CBD from its list of prohibited substances.
Many athletes now use CBD regularly, like Paul Pierce (an NBA star), Kerris Walsh Jennings (a beach volleyball gold medalist), Nate Diaz (an MMA fighter),, David Wells (a champion baseball pitcher), Rob Gronkowski (a Super Bowl champion), and many more budding stars.
This clearly shows the acceptance and growth of CBD in the sports and wellness industry, and you can also experience its amazing benefits without worrying about side effects. Remember, always buy CBD products from reputed and well-tested brands like Colorado Botanicals.