CBD is one of the fastest-growing natural compound health and wellness product segments. People from all walks of life and professions actively use it to maintain balance in their stressful and hectic lifestyles.
In recent years, its use in the sports industry has skyrocketed due to its increasing popularity among athletes.
From seasoned basketball players like Paul Pierce to powerful strongman participants like Eddie Hall, many major athletes claim that the regular use of hemp CBD products helps them to recover faster and feel better.
Due to its nerve-calming, pain-relieving, and anti-anxiety effects, CBD allows athletes to focus better in games, sports events, and practice sessions. In this article, we will cover how exactly CBD improves focus among athletes, its other potential health benefits, and its legality in sports.
Is CBD Legal In Sports?
CBD can drastically improve an athlete’s life by helping them to recover and perform better because of its healing and therapeutic effects. Still, many are afraid of taking it, especially before upcoming major sports events, in fear of getting banned when getting screened through drug tests.
WADA, or World Anti-Doping Agency, controls and forms rules around substance use globally. Earlier, CBD was on the banned substance list, but in 2017, after going through scientific research data, anecdotal reports, and growing popularity, the agency removed it from its controlled substance list.
CBD is completely intoxicating in nature, which gives it an edge over other substances. Athletes can consume it safely, and even at high doses, it won’t make them sick or stoned. The side effects are next to nil, which makes it a completely safe choice for improving fitness among athletes.
Now every athlete can easily use CBD without fear to boost their recovery and overall wellness during training and main events. One thing to note here is that THC is still kept on the banned substance list by the World Anti-Doping Agency; hence, athletes should try to stick with isolates or broad-spectrum CBD products.
Still, if there’s a need to use full-spectrum products with 0.3% THC, then there should be enough gap between consuming them and the blood screening date so that they completely wash away from the body.
Other than sports, athletes can also use CBD in their day-to-day lives, as it’s completely legal in the USA and many other European nations, as long as it’s made from industrial hemp and has less than 0.3% THC in it.
How Can CBD Help Athletes Focus On Their Game?
To understand how CBD can help athletes focus on their game, we first need to understand how CBD works in our body. All mammals, including humans, have an endocannabinoid system that is spread throughout their bodies.
It’s a complex cell signaling network and is responsible for maintaining homeostasis in our body. It is made of endocannabinoid receptors (CCB1 and CB2) and certain enzymes to synthesize them.
CB1 receptors are mainly present in the central nervous system, and CB2 receptors are found in the peripheral nervous system, with a major concentration in and around immune cells. Our body produces two of its cannabinoids, called anandamide and 2Ag.
They interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system and regulate our physiological processes, including anxiety levels, stress responses, memory, immunity, appetite, temperature, sleep cycles, inflammatory responses, pain perception, and many other important processes.
Being a cannabinoid, CBD also influences these receptors and improves their functioning without actually binding to them. That’s why we feel more focused, relaxed, and in better control of our body after consuming some gummies or a few drops of CBD oil.
Hence, CBD can help athletes focus on their game by making their endocannabinoid system more efficient.
What Are The Benefits Of CBD For Athletes?
Behind athletes, there’s a whole team of coaches, doctors, therapists, and scientists who are constantly in search of ways to improve an athlete’s performance and recovery.
They want their star player to be more agile, fast, and resistant, and in recent years, CBD has become the best and safest way to achieve these goals.
Many studies have been carried out on athletes to determine CBD’s efficiency in boosting their overall performance and recovery speed. Here are some major reasons why CBD is an essential part of an athlete’s routine:.
Improved Sleep
Athletes often have poor sleep due to intense training and lack of recovery time. This can negatively impact their performance.
CBD can improve sleep in several ways: it helps athletes fall asleep faster, ensures uninterrupted sleep through the night, reduces insomnia symptoms, and reduces nightmares.
CBD works on the body’s endocannabinoid system and neurotransmitters like adenosine and GABA to increase relaxation and sleepiness. By improving sleep quality, CBD provides a biological basis for aiding athletes’ recovery and preparation for peak performance.
Better Mood And Reduced Stress
Athletes have to go through strenuous training sessions which can increase their fatigue and this tiredness in turn negatively affects their mood. CBD can boost levels of anandamide, a brain chemical linked to feelings of well-being.
It also interacts with serotonin receptors that regulate mood. Research shows CBD can reduce anxiety by improving serotonin function in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects emotions.
CBD impacts the body’s stress response system by lowering the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Through this combination of hormonal and neurological activity, CBD allows athletes to feel better.
Curb Inflammation And Pain
It’s very common for athletes to feel sore after training as their muscles become fatigued, inflamed, and damaged because of training. This can negatively affect their performance. CBD can act as a lifesaver in this condition because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Studies have shown that CBD is capable of reducing excessive inflammation in the gut, brain, and digestive systems. It’s also good for reducing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.
CBD dosage is proven to be effective in inducing glucocorticoid regulation, which is a major regulator of the inflammatory response to injuries. CBD also results in better blood flow during exercise which makes the activity more fun and effective for athletes.
Conclusion
To sum it up, yes, CBD can help athletes focus on their game. It does so by interacting with both cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid receptors in our body and increasing their efficiency to maintain a state of balance.
CBD allows athletes to recover better by improving their sleep quality, reducing pain, causing anxiety, and improving their blood pressure during and after a strenuous workout.
As per the latest guidelines of the World Anti-Doping Agency, CBD is completely legal for athletes, and they can freely use it as a tool for improving their performance and recovery routine.
If you are planning to buy some gummies to chill down and relax after your upcoming marathon, cycling, or any kind of sports event, then you should opt for high-quality and well-tested brands like Colorado Botanicals.
Just make sure to read the label and instructions properly before making CBD a regular part of your wellness journey.
