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CBD is everywhere and in many different forms today. You can find it in capsules, gummies, tinctures, oils, balms, smoothies, cookies - even in coffee sold in small town bakeries across the US. Its share of the health and wellness market is likely to only grow, with some analysts estimating it will be worth $2 billion by 2022.
CBD has many purported benefits, with plenty of exaggerated (and certainly scientific) evidence to support these claims. Everything from helping cancer patients fight nausea and sleeping pills for people with insomnia, to reducing seizures in children with a severe form of epilepsy known as Dravet's syndrome.
While this seems like a potentially huge breakthrough, CBD also helps with smaller things, like helping you recover faster from workouts thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties. Before you jump into the CBD oil pool, here's everything you need to know.
No matter how fit you are, sometimes you just feel it after a workout. Some workouts can cause irritation for several days. This is because, as the UK National Health Service (NHS) explains, exercise causes microscopic damage to muscle fibers. These muscles then become inflamed, which forces the body to respond and repair, causing muscle soreness or stiffness.
CBD is one of over 100 chemical compounds found in cannabis plants, which include both marijuana and industrial hemp. CBD is a close chemical relative of THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical compound found in marijuana that produces a psychoactive effect (also known as a high-inducing substance).
Although CBD is only one atomic location away from becoming THC , this microscopic difference is actually huge. No matter how much CBD oil you consume or how much CBD balm you rub into your body, you cannot get high from it.
"Fact: CBD does reduce inflammation when it's rubbed into muscles as an ointment or taken orally."
"As a personal trainer and someone who trains every day and really pushes herself a lot, I've noticed the biggest difference in post-workout inflammation and stress," Tara Laferrara , a former sprinter and NASM certified personal trainer, told MensHealth.com about her personal use. CBD
Laferrara was introduced to CBD through friends in the fitness industry who tried it after cannabis was legalized in Colorado in 2014. She is now a dedicated CBD user. “It basically manages and prevents my joint inflammation, that sore feeling I get after a day of weightlifting,” she says.
While Laferrara's experience is intriguing, you may still remain skeptical. Perhaps scientific discoveries will dispel some of your doubts.
According to a 2018 review of 132 original studies published in Frontiers in Neurology , CBD may indeed reduce inflammation in the body and help reduce pain and mobility in MS patients. "It is an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiemetic, antipsychotic, and neuroprotective agent," write the authors of the review study.
"Generally speaking, it does reduce inflammation when rubbed into the muscles as an ointment or taken by mouth," Dr. Perry Solomon, previous chief medical officer and founding member of HelloMD, told MensHealth.com .
However, we cannot definitively say that CBD will no doubt reduce inflammation - and in turn reduce muscle soreness - after another Eb & Swole workout . There are no empirical data yet. Everything is individual.
CBD is generally considered safe to use. Even doctors, published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology , said:
"High doses up to 1500 mg per day and chronic use have repeatedly been shown to be well tolerated in humans." You shouldn't need that much, although it can be tricky to figure out how much you need because there is no "standard" dose.
One rule of thumb is 1-6 milligrams of CBD for every 4.5 kg of body weight, depending on the level of pain. Another way is to start with 5-10mg per day and increase by 5-10mg until you feel better. This is not a perfect calculation and requires trial and error, but will help you find a starting point. You can also use our CBD dosage calculator .
As with anything you plan to inject into your body, it's certainly a good idea to discuss CBD with your doctor first, especially if you're on other medications. They can help you make sure your liver has enough room to metabolize it so you don't reduce your exposure to either. You might think that our doctors know nothing about this, but practice shows that good modern doctors are interested in this topic.
Our range is full of CBD oils and tinctures , and you'll also find CBD in balms , creams , capsules , nutritional products , vape pens , and more. Basically, you just have to decide if you want to swallow an edible cbd oil, vape a cbd pen, or rub in for relief.
Again, you can basically determine how much CBD you need to take in order to feel its effects. The dosage recommendations above should give you a good starting point, but CBD is a subjective chemical that reacts differently in every body. However, once you feel the desired effect, you will not have to increase the dose. This means that if you are using CBD oil for recovery, you can simply fill the dropper in the same division every time.
To sum up, if your doctor says that everything is fine or you are not taking any drugs and you know that you are doing well and you are ready to try CBD instead of traditional anti-inflammatories, just do it, choose yours among the many products in the CBD Products section . Try it for a few weeks, changing how you use it and dosage, to find what works best for you. Who knows? By tomorrow, you'll be able to recover faster from your workout and have one less reason to miss a leg day.
