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Top sportspeople and coaches always seek new training methods and substances to improve sporting performance. One of these substances currently gaining traction is CBD, widely used by athletes in the belief that it would improve both physiological and psychological performance.
People have used CBD to alleviate various physical and mental ailments for over 3000 years. In ancient Chinese medicine, it was believed to assuage pain, worries, and mental fatigue. Today, CBD is a popular natural remedy, and it is used informally for a wide variety of ailments, including pain relief, sleep issues, nausea, and many other things.
What is CBD?
CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the cannabinoids extracted from the cannabis or hemp plant. CBD has no psychoactive properties, meaning it cannot make you high. Its use, sale and distribution are legally allowed, with restrictions, in several countries, including Canada, the USA, Germany and China.
CBD can be used in vapes, capsules, oils, tinctures, and edibles. These should be sourced from a reputable cannabis store that adheres to the legal requirements and product purity protocols.
Is CBD legal in sport?
Doping in sports is a serious business and finding traces of a banned substance in testing can end an athleteโs career. Until recently, CBD was banned in sports, and as a result, not used by athletes.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officially removed CBD from its prohibitive substances list in 2018, although THC and related products are still not allowed in amateur and professional sporting codes.
As a result, CBD is increasingly used by sports people for a variety of reasons, including boosting stamina.
How can CBD benefit athletesโ stamina?
Stamina is the mental and physical ability to sustain activity for a long time, while endurance refers to the bodyโs cardiovascular and muscular ability to exercise for a long time. The two are related, but stamina has an added mental component.
Oxygen consumption
The body needs oxygen during exercise, and the greater the bodyโs ability to use oxygen, the more efficient muscles will work, and thus stamina will be increased. Many athletes believe that CBD will improve the consumption of oxygen during exercise.
Inflammation
Inflammation and oxidative stress are triggered after exercise, and although these are part of the bodyโs repair mechanisms, excessive inflammation can damage the body. Many athletes believe CBD-infused products reduce substances that increase inflammation, such as cytokines and cortisol, and thus speed recovery time after exercise.
Muscle pain
The pain we feel after exercise is a perception of pain, the bodyโs warning that we have reached a certain limit in what we can do. CBD is often used as an analgesic in folk medicine, and athletes use it in the same way to suppress muscle pain and allow greater effort.
Sleep
Lack of sleep or sleep interrupted by anxiety can significantly impair athletic performance. Cannabinoids have always been considered beneficial to a good nightโs sleep. Athletes, especially at the highest levels, are often under pressure to perform well. Many of them use CBD because they experience reduced anxiety and better sleep when using it.
CBD and medical claims
Although cannabis and its related products have been used to treat various symptoms for thousands of years, cannabinoids have been effectively banned until quite recently. Clinical trials into the effects of CBC were only allowed in the USA in 2015, and the legal status of CBD and related products was only relaxed in Canada and the USA in 2018, with the Cannabis Act and Farm Bill respectively.
Although there are loads of clinical studies into the possible benefits of CBD, there simply has not been enough time to definitively prove the medical efficacy of cannabinoids such as CBD. It is legally prohibited to make medical claims as things stand and would be morally irresponsible as well.
Why do athletes use CBD?
All we can do is delve into the shared experiences of the vast number of people who believe they find benefit in using CBD and other hemp-derived products.
CBD is now legal to use in sports, and many sports people use it for the reasons listed above. Top athletes pursue sports as a career, and the training methods and supplements they use are optimized for maximum performance. Although the benefits of using CBD to improve sporting performance have not been clinically proven, the widespread adoption by professionals does indicate a strong perception of efficacy.
