The Relation of CBD to Exercise and Recovery

Cannabidiol, or CBD for short, has been known for its potential health benefits over the past few years. These include restoring calmness, improving one’s sleep, and helping to lessen the effects of some symptoms from specific illnesses.

CBD’s main component, cannabis, which is non-intoxicating, has been used as a form of pain relief in early society for over centuries. The reason why it was used so often was due to its anti-inflammatory properties, in which it helps to relieve a patient suffering from pain due to inflammation.

Thanks to the advancement in research and studies on the usage of CBD, additional benefits have been discovered and confirmed such as the usage and relation of CBD to exercise and its accompanying recovery methods. But why do you need to have a proper recovery after working out?

Reasons For Pain Being Present After Workouts

You might not know it. But there is a name for the pain someone experiences after an intense workout session; that name would be Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS for short. That specific body phenomenon is usual for those doing exercises, even seasoned and professional athletes competing in sports and events. That makes anyone regardless of age and status susceptible to DOMS.

Workouts Cause Damages to Your Muscles, But it’s Normal

Do take note that the practice of workout itself (and any form of exercise itself) has been proven in many studies that cause one’s proteins located inside the muscle fibers to be damaged at a microscopic level.

That damage will then trigger inflammation within that muscle and will cause common symptoms such as aches, stiffness, and pain.

However, having inflammation after workouts or exercise is normal as this is your body’s way of repairing those damaged proteins inside your muscle fibers. The normal and natural healing process will take a few days.

Although, you can significantly reduce the symptoms of inflammation by using proper medications such as CBD-infused oils, tinctures, and creams.

Using CBD for Anti-Inflammation

This is where the usage of CBD-related products can help a person suffering from inflammation come into the picture. Many studies and research shows that CBD has been proven in helping the human body in recovering from inflammation faster by targeting the endocannabinoid system (ECS)in your body.

To put it simply, the ECS is responsible for your body’s cardiovascular, nervous, and immune system functions inside cells.

Aside from what was mentioned above, ECS is also responsible for both pain and inflammation that is meant to keep the body healthy through its resting state.

CBD on ECS

Blocking one or more transmissions from ECS is how CBD helps you deal with inflammation throughout your body, especially after doing a rigorous exercise or being in a state of recovery. Thanks to the interference of CBD with your body’s ECS, CBD will regulate a complex process in that system that will result in anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) effects.

Notice on CBD Usage

However, do take note that CBD isn’t a one-for-all solution to all inflammation and pain-related symptoms as there are various types of both inflammation and pain. Such examples would be allergic reactions versus autoimmune reactions to name one.

How CBD Tackles Symptoms

Unlike specific medicines that only use a single pathway to cure pain-related symptoms, CBD will instead use multiple pathways in order to reach the root cause of the symptom in order to alleviate it, allowing it to reach various systems and parts in the body like the muscular system wherein inflammation takes place.

Benefits of CBD Usage

Using CBD for both anti-inflammatory and pain relief for your body’s muscle system will provide a number of combined benefits that other forms of medication cannot provide on their own. Below are those said benefits that you can expect to experience:

• Alleviates both tension and spasm in your muscles, resulting in relaxation of your muscles.
• Protects your healthy muscles by surrounding them with protection against damage, reducing mild inflammation as a result.
• Promotes healthy sleep that can greatly help in the regeneration of muscle fibers.
• Prevents both DOMS and associated pain from occurring in your system.
• Promotes faster recovery for your body, especially after intense workouts or when recovering from an injury.
• Promotes reduced pain and downtime that can result in improved and longer training sessions.

 

Aside from the above mentioned, a study report article from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has pointed out that CBD offers numerous potential benefits to athletes by exerting physiological, biochemical, and psychological effects on the user.

However, do take note that they have also stated that the study is based on preclinical studies and shouldn’t be taken as a final result. Nevertheless, this highlights the potential of CBD and its benefit for its users, for both patients and athletes alike.

Proper Usage of CBD

Men’s Health has noted that there are several ways for you to use CBD for your recovery (for either anti-inflammation or recovery). Commonly, CBD can be accessed by consuming oils and tinctures (mostly oral).

What CBD-infused Product to Use?

But there are other forms of CBD that you can use and consume, namely infused balms, lotions, capsules, edibles, vape pens, etc. You can freely choose what kind of CBD-infused products you may use for anti-inflammation and recovery.

However, if you want direct and immediate effects against inflammation and muscle pain, it is highly suggested that you use oils, tinctures, and creams.

Why CBD Oils, Tinctures, and Creams?

CBD oils and tinctures are easily absorbed by your body once consumed and their components for anti-inflammation and muscle pain will quickly be absorbed into your bloodstream.

Meanwhile, CBD creams can be directly applied to the area of the body wherein inflammation and muscle pain is taking place for immediate relief after applying the cream.

Closing Thoughts

Research into CBD usage for anti-inflammation and pain reduction is still ongoing. However, the discovered benefits for human usage (especially for athletes and those recovering from injuries) can provide a huge advantage to many.

Furthermore, many CBD-related products are now becoming more accessible and legal in many states and countries in the past few years, as its positive use cases and users have grown and become more normalized as more benefits and use cases are discovered.