What will it take to reach your fitness goals? More energy? Less stress? Faster recovery?
Professional athletes spend a lot of money and time on upkeep for their bodies. It makes sense—it’s almost certainly their most valuable asset. So it’s worth noticing what athletes are doing to keep their bodies in top shape.
When pro athletes from the world of Tennis, Basketball, Boxing, NFL, NHL, Soccer and even Snowboarding all got together to found an organization dedicated in part to the promotion of Cannabidiol (CBD), we took notice.
In the sports world, stories of doctors passing out opiates like candy can be commonplace. But more and more athletes are turning to a cleaner and healthier alternative for pain relief.
Professional hockey player Ryan VandenBussche found that CBD helped him recover from injuries as severe as broken bones and concussions.
“One of the greatest supposed benefits of CBD is its potential to manage pain, which has given rise to a new crop of unlikely cannabis advocates like VandenBussche: Professionals who know what it’s like to have to overcome pain to perform their job at the highest level.”
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Whether you’re a gym rat, runner, cyclist, yogi, dancer, swimmer or just an all around active person, read on to learn why so many pro athletes are turning to CBD for muscle recovery and restoration.
Remember—CBD has no psychoactive effects and no side effects. Some people find using CBD pre-workout can boost their performance (ever heard of “the zone”? Relaxation is the key to achieving this legendary level of performance) but in this article we’ll be focusing on CBD for recovery.
Five Major Perks of CBD for An Active Life
1. CBD can reduce inflammation
Inflammation is a natural physiological response to working out. It occurs in order to help muscle tissues heal from the tiny tears they endure during exercise. This process of exercising then undergoing a period of inflammation and repair is what ultimately allows an active person to perform more and more difficult workouts.
Chronic inflammation, unlike the temporary inflammation that occurs after exercise, is widely known in the medical community to be the underlying cause of most modern illnesses from depression to Alzheimer’s disease. It’s obviously a significant threat to overall health.
The causes of inflammation in today’s modern world include the consumption of processed foods, refined sugar and alcohol, as well as hormonal imbalance and prolonged physical and emotional stress.
Fortunately, active people are less prone to chronic inflammation than the average Joe since physical activity has been shown to have stress-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects.
But the truth is that in today’s world, it’s difficult to altogether avoid inflammation and its symptoms.
Without adequate sleep and nutrition, even exercise-induced inflammation can become damaging.
When inflammation goes untreated it steadily wreaks havoc on fitness and focus.
If extreme, the damage caused by inflammation can lead to an increased production of free radicals which are disease-causing blood cells.
Studies show that the use of CBD can help to repair tissue damage caused by inflammation. CBD may also improve the function of the immune system which fights inflammation at its source.
2. CBD can help to relieve soreness
Any active person is familiar with good old exercise-induced soreness.
“Exercise physiologists refer to the gradually increasing discomfort that occurs between 24 and 48 hours after activity as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it is perfectly normal.”
Even if soreness is perfectly normal after exercise, it’s one reason we may opt not to return to our work out the next day.
The use of CBD may work to relieve soreness after a hard work-out.
CBD can actually address soreness at its source by fighting inflammation.
We recommend using our CBD oil topically to treat soreness and alleviate post-work-out discomfort so that you’re ready to go again tomorrow.
3. CBD can help to alleviate stress
For some, it’s easy to get to the gym day in and day out no matter what the day has thrown at them. Others find that a stressful day can completely derail their exercise routine.
We get that missing your work-out, bike ride or yoga class can make the day more stressful. For active people, exercise is often just what’s needed to clear the mind and destress.
Taking CBD has been shown to have a calming and regulating effect on the nervous system. When life gives you lemons… like a sick kid, a looming deadline, an upset spouse or road construction, CBD can make it a cool glass of lemonade. It can ease the stress and turn down the overwhelm. Maybe you’ll make it to that yoga class after all.
4. CBD may lower blood pressure and benefit cardiovascular health
A nutritious diet and an active lifestyle are top of the list for benefiting cardiovascular health so if you’ve made these things a priority, you’re on the right track.
Still, it’s good to note that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in three US adults have high blood pressure or hypertension. According to Stanford researchers in the sports cardiology clinic, hypertension is just as common in college-level and professional athletes.
Having high blood pressure can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
So what can you do to maintain good heart health?
CBD is well known for its ability to combat stress which is often the primary cause of high blood pressure. Recent studies in neuropsychopharmacology have shown that using CBD can strengthen cardiovascular health by lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
5. CBD can help to regulate sleep
Did you know that sleep deprivation can increase your risk of all sorts of health problems?
Sleep is a necessary ingredient for good health. Without it, the immune system starts to shut down.
For active go-getter types of people, it can be tempting to override the need for sleep in order to squeeze more out of the day but any benefits of foregoing a full night’s sleep are short-lived and do more damage than good.
If you have trouble falling asleep, sleeping through the night, or waking up feeling fully rested, CBD may help. A small dose right before you go to bed can help calm the nervous system so that you can relax and get a great night’s sleep.
Getting good sleep will give you more energy throughout the day and plenty to put toward the next tough workout. Who knows… you might end up bench-pressing that extra 10 pounds or running that extra mile with ease.
As you can see CBD can help anxiety, reduce stress and speed up recovery from intense workouts. For professional athletes these advantages can mean the difference between winning and losing, becoming a legend or being forgotten. The rest of us will have to be content with a faster route to our fitness goals… and living a happier, healthier life.
If you are interested in using CBD to enhance your wellness, check out our 1000 mg oil.
