How cannabis can help athletes perform better
As cannabis becomes legalized in more states, the market for products continues to grow. There are now a wide variety of options for consuming cannabis, from traditional flowers to new ingestible products. Devices at established head shops like Grasscity range from simple, portable vaporizers to advanced glass blunts, making the offer more versatile than ever before. The stigma that was once attached to cannabis is slowly starting to fade and this industry is growing to be one of the biggest and most lucrative industries in the world with predicted global market size of $54.41 billion by 2026.
One of the industries where the cannabis stigma was heavy and stubborn is the sports industry however over the years, many athletes have come out and admitted to consuming cannabis such as Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson, and Ricky Williams to name a few. Research shows that cannabis can impact athletic performance positively and sports bodies and officials are not enthusiastic about this. Many athletes are using cannabis to help with performance and if you are curious to know what benefits they get from cannabis, keep reading.
It Decreases Anxiety
Medical marijuana is commonly used to treat mental health issues such as anxiety and athletes tend to carry around a lot of anxiety that is linked to expectations as well as all the eyes on them on game day. Anxiety hurts performance so it needs to be managed to avoid negative consequences. Cannabis helps with the management of stress and anxiety so that athletes can perform well under pressure. This is important because anxiety releases a hormone called cortisol which lowers testosterone and athletes need to have high levels of testosterone to perform optimally. CBD lowers the level of cortisol by binding the cortisol receptors which then helps athletes enter into a more relaxed state.
It Provides Pain Relief
Being an athlete is a physically demanding and strenuous job. Athletes are prone to muscle pain, joint pain, and various other strains of the body that come as a result of training and competing. Cannabis is famed for its pain-relieving properties and this has become one of the most popular uses for medical marijuana. As an athlete, when you need to recover sore muscles that you have pushed to the limit, cannabis can be used in a topical form and applied directly onto the skin's surface to relieve pain as well as provide anti-inflammatory relief which speeds up the recovery process.
It Improves Focus
Cannabis is also known to enhance focus and with the right dosage, you can cast away any distracting thoughts. Athletes need focus both in training and during competitions so it is advised that a small dose of cannabis is consumed to help achieve this while higher doses are avoided because they can cause sleepiness as well laziness. Overall, CBD benefits athletes because they can be less distracted and perform better.
It Improves Sleep
For athletes, sleep is a vital part of recovery which makes sleep important. For those who struggle to get enough restful sleep, cannabis could be the solution as it is known to induce sleep as well as promote better quality and longer hours of sleep. Cannabis does this by restoring your natural sleep cycle which can easily fall out of sync due to the stresses of the world today. When your sleep cycle is balanced and in sync, you can sleep well at night and feel well-rested during the day. Cannabis also increases the amount of time you spend in deep sleep so it is advised that if you want to consume for this purpose, you consume just before bedtime.
It has Anti-inflammatory Properties
Inflammation of joints and muscles is a common occurrence for athletes and this can be treated with cannabis, more specifically CBD. CBD has no psychoactive effects and has shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in many inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, acne, and eczema to name a few. This is vital for athletes who need to regularly treat inflammation to ensure optimal performance and recovery at all times.
Cannabis is a versatile herb that seems to be helpful to everyone, including athletes. Everything from pain, anxiety, focus, inflammation, and sleep can be aided with cannabis and new laws and regulations are now in support of the use of cannabis so you won’t have to feel guilty for consumption. Just ensure that you consume cannabis in a healthy way that does not require any combustion which is linked to health risks such as lung cancer.