The idea used to be that people who consumed marijuana were lazy, sleepy and spaced out. Little did people know how beneficial the stuff could be. Cannabis comes with a laundry list of potential benefits for people who use it in healthy ways. For instance, Cannabis can improve focus and reduce inflammation. It can help you make art and fall asleep.
People used to think of cannabis as a dangerous drug. Now it’s widely considered a medicine. Doctors prescribe medical marijuana to patients who suffer from chronic pain. The medicine can be more effective than prescription opioids such as oxycodone, which have a high rate of abuse, and which can cause serious and potentially fatal side effects. Cannabis products can also help reduce anxiety in people who suffer from anxiety disorders like social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
But did you know that cannabis can potentially improve athletic performance? Here are 2 reasons why.
#1 Cannabis Can Improve Cognition
In Canada, you don’t need a prescription to obtain cannabis. You can, for instance, buy edibles online or from your local cannabis seller. This makes it extremely simple for people wanting to use cannabis to improve athletic performance.
One reason using cannabis can improve athletic performance is it can help make your mental activity more acute. Although cannabis can make it harder to, say, make sure your finances are in order, it can improve concentration and help you get in the zone—or, to use the term psychologists prefer, enter a “state of flow.”
You may have experienced a state of flow before. When you enter it, you get so absorbed in whatever you’re doing, be it painting or cleaning the dishes, you forget about your surroundings and lose track of time.
Athletes enter a state of flow when they’re at the top of their game, performing at their peak. Safe to say Wayne Gretzky was likely in the zone when he scored 8 points in one game—which he did on two occasions.
But you don’t have to be one of the best athletes in history to get into the zone when doing something athletic. Virtually anyone can get in the zone, when they have a decent sense of what they’re doing, and using cannabis safely can increase the likelihood of that happening.
#2 Cannabis Can Reduce Inflammation
CBD, the non-psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, can reduce inflammation, thereby improving athletic performance. CBD does this by affecting activity in the endocannabinoid receptors in the brain.
Athletes often have to contend with inflammation of the connective tissues and muscles. It’s the inevitable result of exercising. Using CBD products like edibles and lotions can help heal connective tissues and muscles by making them less inflamed. And when their muscles are less inflamed, and they’re less burdened by discomfort, they’re more likely to perform at the top of their game.
