You may have heard of people taking CBD gummies for anxiety, but did you know athletes take CBD gummies to reach their fitness goals faster? The World Anti-Doping Agency recently took CBD off the banned substances list, and athletes everywhere are rejoicing.
It all started when MMA fighter Nate Diaz was toking on a CBD vape pen during a press conference after a match. He said he used CBD for post-workout and post-competition recovery, noting that there was no THC and he wasn’t getting high. Shortly after, the WADA reconsidered the banning of CBD.
Other athletes praise CBD, saying it is a viable, natural alternative to NSAIDs and opioids. This is a big deal in sports. Athletes put their bodies through a tremendous amount of trauma, and doctors typically prescribe potentially harmful medications for pain management. NSAIDs can cause liver, kidney, and heart damage with long-term use, and opioids are highly addictive. CBD gummies are not addictive at all, and their side-effects are minimal, which helps athletes get to their goals faster while feeling their best.
If you are interested in giving CBD gummies a try, there are a few things you should know before you buy for the first time. Keep reading to learn why CBD gummies are excellent to take while playing sports, and what you need to know before you buy.
What Are the Benefits of Taking CBD While Playing Sports?
1. Inflammation and Pain
When your body goes through the rigors of intense training, it almost always leads to pain and inflammation. Doctors traditionally prescribed opioids and NSAIDs for these problems, but CBD may be almost as effective, and it comes with fewer consequences and side effects. Effectively and naturally reduced pain and inflammation also means faster progress because recovery time is shortened. Taking CBD gummies while you train or play sports also helps reduce inflammation in the moment, preventing injury while keeping you on top of your game.
2. Sleep
Your body repairs itself while you sleep, and better sleep means faster recovery. CBD gummies help your stiff, sore muscles relax, and they balance out your sleep/wake cycle, for more productive training and competition days. CBD helps you fall asleep and stay asleep for the rest you need to be a champion.
3. Recovery
Faster recovery time means you can gain an edge over your competition by training and pushing yourself more. The less time you need to spend healing from tough sessions, the quicker you gain the speed, precision, and strength you need in order to keep winning.
4. Head Injuries
Brain injuries cause more deaths than any other sports injury, and 10 percent of athletes sustain a concussion every year. Hopefully, no one is going around knocking their heads together on purpose, but brain injuries are a major issue in almost any sport. Especially in contact sports. CBD gummies have neuroprotective properties that may minimize the effects of head injuries, and help athletes recover from them faster.
5. Focus
CBD gummies increase the levels of serotonin in your brain, which keeps you feeling calm and stable. CBD gummies for anxiety work to create balance and restore homeostasis when there are internal or external changes, so moments of anxiety will be shorter, and you will be able to concentrate more intensely on meeting your training goals or beating your opponent.
6. Eliminate Prescriptions
CBD is an all natural substance that does not need a prescription in most states, and has fewer, less severe side effects than most traditional pain management medications. And while CBD gummies are delicious, they are not addictive.
What You Need to Know Before Your First Purchase
If reading about all the amazing benefits of taking CBD gummies while you play sports has you convinced, there are a few things you should know before diving in. While the most reputable brands only use the highest quality hemp to make the CBD used in their products, many brands cut corners that could lead to negative consequences for you.
Making sure your CBD gummies will be safe and effective is easy, as long as you know what to look for:
Organically Grown – Make sure your CBD gummies are made with hemp that was not sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers, and grown in clean soil. Hemp is a bioaccumulator. Any plants exposed to these harmful chemicals will absorb them, leading to consumer exposure through the final product.
Domestically Grown – Many brands get their hemp from other countries that do not have the same regulations the United States has. Check to confirm the hemp used to make your CBD gummies was grown here in the US, in order to avoid exposure to heavy metals and harmful chemicals not intended for human consumption.
CBD Isolate – The WADA took CBD off the banned substances list, but THC is still banned. This means that if you are ever tested for drug use, you need to be sure there is no THC in your system at all. Some forms of CBD have tiny amounts of THC in them. Not enough to get you high, but enough to show up in a screening. CBD isolate is the only kind of CBD that does not have any THC in it whatsoever, so make sure that your CBD gummies are made with isolate in order to avoid any issues.
Certificate of Analysis – Your CBD gummies should always have a certificate of analysis available on the brand website or through a QR code on the bottle. This confirms that your CBD was tested by a third party lab to confirm purity and potency, ensuring the best THC free CBD you can get.
Final Thoughts
CBD gummies support your body and mind on a holistic level, helping you have winning training sessions and competitions. Just make sure you are getting the right CBD to ensure the biggest boost in performance.