As an athlete, it’s common to experience physical stress. Due to prolonged physical wear and tear during training and games, you may be at risk of pain and injuries. When unhealed, your performance may weaken. To prevent such an occurrence, you’re more likely to take pain management medications or anti-inflammatory medicines. While they can temporarily relieve the pain, they may have some side effects.
As such, many use cannabidiol (CBD) as a pain medication alternative. Not only does CBD help manage their pains, but overall, it may boost athletic performance through the following:
- Improve Sleep and Relaxation
Sleep is an essential aspect of an athlete’s lifestyle. If one regularly exercises and eats healthy but doesn’t have enough sleep, it might not be enough. With ample sleep, an athlete can function their best as your body goes into restoration and repair during this state.
During sleep, hormones called cytokines are produced, which are responsible for fighting off infections. Your cells and tissue also undergo repair while your heart rests. This is essential so that, after physical exertion, your body can recover. In addition, you can improve your cardiovascular health throughout the night as your breathing and heart rate changes throughout the stages of sleep.
These physical benefits are all essential to boost athletic performance. Without enough sleep, you’re more likely to reduce your ability to think clearly and react quickly during a game. Moreover, you might also experience quicker exhaustion when you’re sleep-deprived.
That being said, you may need CBD to help you improve your sleeping pattern. When you experience pain and you’re not relaxed, you’re more likely to have difficulties sleeping. By using CBD, you can decrease acute pain, relax your muscles, and increase feelings of calm. As a result, you can fall asleep quicker and better. And when you wake up, you can feel rested.
However, you may need to start with a lower dose to let your body adapt to CBD. Then, you can increase the dose slowly. What matters is that you take what your body can absorb effectively so that you can yield positive results.
Most importantly, be mindful of how you ingest it. For instance, if you’re a foodie, then have CBD edibles, which you can buy from https://supanaturals.com/ and other reputable online stores.
- Reduce Inflammation and Pain
While some pain is suitable for athletes, some aren’t. For instance, feeling your muscles ‘burning’ is a ‘good’ type of pain. Another is when you push your limit, thereby making you feel fatigued after a strenuous workout. These good pains are short-lived and necessary so that you can increase your muscle strength.
However, they become ‘bad’ pains when they last for days. This means that your physiology has been excessively challenged. And when this happens, it’s a sign that you’re not effectively replenishing your energy stores and muscles. Or it may also be a sign to consult your doctor as chronic fatigue that continues may be due to medical problems, if not overtraining. And you wouldn’t want any of this as you may not be able to be at your best athletic performance. Sometimes, it may even make you unable to play.
By seeking a doctor, you can receive recommendations on how to treat these pains and inflammation. You can also ask if CBD can help. But generally, CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system (ECS) receptors in your immune system. These tiny proteins or receptors attach to your cells when responding to various stimuli.
As a result, the response creates pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects, which could help manage pain. By activating these receptors, you may relive your pain. With such, you can perform better instead of worrying about these pains.
- Alleviates Stress
Stress can also be both good and bad for an athlete. With the correct dose of stress, you can focus, prepare and perform better. But when it’s too much, it may not allow you to play confidently. And worse, it could negatively affect your health, which also impacts your athletic performance.
Thus, you may want to try CBD to reduce your stress. It may help give you confidence and calm your nerves as CBD works with the brain, so the latter can produce serotonin. This is a neurotransmitter that calms anxiety, reduces stress, and helps create better moods. So, when you feel better, you can perform better.
Conclusion
As an athlete, boosting your athletic performance is essential to win a game or make the most of your training. Without such, you could lose a game which isn’t a good idea. To prevent this from happening, you may want to consider taking CBD to help your overall performance.
By Gene Clamond, a sports coach. He has been teaching sports teams across North America for eight years. He shares his knowledge and expertise by writing guest blogs on different sports websites. During his free time, he travels out of town to chill and experience different cultures.
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