To keep performing up to the expectations, the athletes need something special to meet their body needs. You may have heard athletes taking vitamins and other food supplements to boost up their stamina and enhance their ability to perform better every day. However, the trend is changing from food supplements to something more beneficial, which is CBD.
CBD (which is cannabidiol) is obtained from the cannabis plant or hemp plant and is widely being used around the globe for multiple reasons. It is basically a chemical compound that offers a vast range of benefits to everyone, especially to athletes. As the body of athletes usually faces so much stress and pressure while performing their jobs, they need more stamina and strength. However, it happens that they fail to cope up with prolonged training stress or sometimes physical trauma. As a result, their performance start getting affected, and it becomes more stressful for them to meet the standards as well as expectations. In such cases, the use of CBD proves very beneficial and helpful through helping the athletes to relieve their pain or stress, and gain the strength to stand and perform better again.
Is CBD Legal to use for Athletes?
There is a lot of discussion about whether the use of CBD is legal for the athletes or whether there are any restrictions. You will be glad to know that the use of CBD is legal for athletes but it must be without the addition of THC. The only allowed amount of THC in CBD products is 0.3% and no more than it. Before 2008, the name of CBD was also included in the list of strictly prohibited drugs. After seeing its wonderful benefits, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) removed it from the list of banned drugs and allowed to use it for specific reasons. After that, USADA which is the US Anti-Doping Agency, also allowed it to use for athletes due to its amazing benefits. However, the use of marijuana which is a psychoactive component and has many side-effects is still prohibited to use.
Six Amazing Benefits of CBD for Athletes
Do you want to know how does CBD benefits the athletes? Here, you will learn about the following amazing benefits of CBD for the athletes. Let’s start!
- Pain Relief
Athletes have to perform very tough tasks that require physical effort. They have to carry out extensive and hard exercises to maintain their body strength and to keep them physically fit. Sometimes, they suffer through muscle pain or pain in the bones due to performing hard exercises or taking part in games and sports. To alleviate this pain, most of them heavily rely on high dosage pain killers which, in return, propose many side effects in the long run. Therefore, it is always a great idea to use something organic to relieve muscle or bone pain while staying healthy and physically fit. The research has shown that the use of CBD helps the athletes in relieving pain and keep performing great.
- Minimize Inflammation
Most of the time, a little inflammation doesn’t affect the athletes but it helps them in adapting their body to the changes or changed environment. However, the long term and persistent inflammation hurt them the most by making them incompetent about their roles and suppress their performance. It has been found through research that cannabinoids in the CBD products have an anti-inflammatory effect, which helps the body in treating all types of inflammations.
- Improves Sleep
Not only this, but the use of high-quality CBD oils also helps in improving the sleep. After a tiring day, sometimes the athletes face difficulty in having a good sleep due to body aches and pains. A sound and peaceful sleep are very important for the athletes to regain their strengths for showing excellent performance in meeting next day milestones and challenges. The CBD is well-known for its benefits in case of improving sleep. Just like, it helps others, it also helps the athletes in enjoying a good sleep to regain strength.
- Reduces Anxiety and Stress
Due to the burden of work and pressure of showing amazing performance, the athletes suffer through game-related anxiety and stress. As they have to take part in the games almost every day, so continuous stress and anxiety can leave an adverse impact on their health. For this purpose, the use of CBD has proved effective as it helps them in reducing anxiety as well as stress. The research conducted in this concern has revealed that CBD helps in reliving games-related stress and anxiety for athletes, along with any anxiety disorders if they develop over time.
- Aids in Fastest Recovery
As a result of playing games, techniques, and training, athletes undergo a number of injuries over time. Some of these are minor ones while others are the most critical and takes a lot of time to recover. Laying down on the bed for the sake of prolonged rest is hard for the athletes and they cannot stay in this condition for longer. This is because their body is used to engage in physical activities, and they miss their routine. Therefore, the use of CBD has revealed amazing benefits in terms of fastest recovery from injuries. It has been seen that CBD fasten the recovery and make athletes healthy and physically fit within the shortest time frame.
- Controls Appetite and Weight
Maintaining the weight and controlling the appetite are the two most important goals for the athletes. As they have hard jobs, they feel hungry more frequently but eating too frequently can make them gain weight. For this purpose, they rely on taking various medicines to control their hunger and maintain their weight. However, many of these medications also have side-effects that harm their bodies. Fortunately, CBD helps them in managing their appetite and weight by working with the endocannabinoid system in our body. Thus, the use of CBD is very effective in benefitting the athletes in all these ways and helps them in boosting their performance.