CBD Vape for Athletes: Enhancing Recovery and Performance
Please Note: This article is a contribution and is intended solely for informational purposes. It is not designed to diagnose or treat any medical conditions. For any health-related concerns, it is advised to consult with a licensed healthcare professional directly. The content of this article does not imply endorsement or approval of the product, or any claims, statements, or opinions made in its promotion.
Both recreational and competitive athletes increasingly look to cannabidiol for supporting wellness routines given its enhanced safety profile and research beginning to validate and confirm the benefits aiding performance, recovery, and overall exercise and recovery.
Maximizing these upsides requires optimizing delivery methods and timing strategically aligned to individual sports demands and preferences. CBD vape offers rapid relief from occasional discomfort or inflammation following strenuous workouts and sporting events due to its immediate onset time. Let’s jump into what the research says.
What Does The Research Say?
While primarily in the preclinical stages, here is what athletes are finding when including CBD in their exercise regimen:
Reduced Inflammation and Pain
Intensely training athletes experience higher oxidative stress increasing inflammation, muscle fatigue, and minor aches. Human trials indicate oral CBD lowered inflammatory and oxidative biomarkers in judo athletes following competition. Mice research discovered reductions in joint inflammation and pain-related behaviors with topical CBD applications.
Enhanced Sleep
is Critically vital to every athlete’s recovery process. Multiple studies note CBD improves sleep duration, quality, and a sense of restoration even after an intense training session. Proper rest enables tissue repair, muscle growth, and most importantly neurological balance.
Neuroprotective Effects
Research confirms CBD’s antioxidant properties, while its anti-inflammatory actions protect neurological health after brain injuries increasingly affecting contact sports like football, boxing, hockey and rugby.
Now that we’ve covered some background research, let’s examine specific applications for athletes Vaping CBD…
CBD Vaping Benefits For Athletes
While capsules and edibles deliver longer-lasting effects, they do take longer to onset which is its main drawback. Yet still very powerful and effective.
Inhaling CBD vape enables rapid relief, and faster onset because automized CBD is delivered straight to the lungs and directed into the bloodstream. It’s what makes vaping CBD the most desirable form of consumption.
Faster Recovery
Vaping full-spectrum CBD after intense training sessions may provide quick support for calming residual muscle aches or minor inflammation allowing better quality rest and optimizing recuperation times.
Acute Discomfort Relief
Pre-competition anxiety often accompanies “the big game” for many athletes. A few inhales of a relaxing CBD Vape Pen or CBD vape juice with a device may settle nerves, ease stomach distress, and loosen muscles preparing both mind and body.
Brain Health
Contact sports put athletes at risk for repeated subconcussive impacts eventually causing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) neurodegeneration. Early evidence shows CBD conferring protective advantages lowering neuronal damage.
Anti-Inflammatory
While icing and gentle movement remedy minor exercise-related inflammatory flares, CBD’s ability to temper systemic, chronic low-grade inflammation through multiple pathways contributes to preventative support.
Optimizing CBD Delivery For Athletes
Alongside quality sourcing, manufacturing, and testing, dialing in personalized serving sizes and timing aligned with routines is crucial and makes all the difference. It’s where CBD Vape shines, it’s convenient to conceal, simple to dose, and highly effective.
Sublingual CBD Oils
CBD oil concentrated tinctures held under the tongue enable rapid absorption into the bloodstream without inhaling. Effects manifest within 20 to 40 minutes making it a suitable pre-performance method of dosing for anxiety or post-workouts when rapid relief is not imperative.
Vaping
Inhaling vaporized CBD isolate or broad-spectrum hemp provides the fastest calming effects between 5 to 15 minutes. This suits abrupt pain flares or pre-event nerves needing quick ease. Vape pens offer convenience for portable use. Start with 1 puff and assess for a minimum of 15 minutes. Haven’t reached the desired effects? Take another puff until you find the sweet spot.
Edibles
While oral bioavailability only reaches 10% with longer onset times between 60 to 120 mins, The effects of Edibles with CBD are felt much longer, approximately 4 to 6 hours of sustainable concentrated relief. Ideal for maintaining steady-state anti-inflammatory support.
Lifestyle And Nutrition Optimization
For athletes enduring rigorous training programs, incorporating CBD can be very beneficial. Alongside a healthy diet and adequate rest, further reducing inflammation and aiding in achieving homeostasis.
Recovery Enhancement
CBD’s potential in pain management is particularly beneficial for athletes. By aiding in quicker recovery times and reducing discomfort post-exercise, CBD can be a valuable addition to an athlete’s recovery regimen.
Signs CBD use is working
Determining optimal cannabinoid profiles, potencies and intake methods for your sport requires tracking indicators against a symptom journal. Notice if:
- Baseline Pain/discomfort lowers
- Post-workout soreness and stiffness intensity reduces
- Sleep quality and duration improves
- Recovery days feel more restorative
- Increased energy through sessions
- Elevated satisfaction and motivation
Athletic Performance Metrics
Quantifying workout intensity using heart rate variability, force exertion sensors and wearable trackers provides objective biometric feedback assessing if CBD covaries with:
- Less perceived effort needed during routine activities
- Faster sprint intervals or lift personal records
- Lower peak pain ratings after intense sessions
- Quicker recovery between workouts or competitive events
Dosage Considerations
When first adding CBD to your training regimens, assess changes every 3 days once prior baselines are established for at least 2 weeks without CBD. Increase servings slowly by 1-5 mg until hitting the sweet spot.
Cycling CBD Protocols
Avoid building excessive CBD tolerance from daily use. Consider 2 weeks on with 1 week off interspersing different delivery methods for preventing acclimatization.
Stacking Synergies
Compounding benefits by blending multiple plant-based medicines and targeted nutrients at lower doses through additive reactions including:
- Turmeric – Curcumin modulates dozens of inflammation messengers providing similar antidepressant, neuroprotective activity as CBD
- Omega 3s – EPA/DHA essential fatty acids incorporate into cell membranes lowering cytokine production while enhancing mitochondrial energy output and nervous system development
- Tart Cherries – Contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds aiding workout recovery, especially regarding muscle soreness and strength loss prevention between bouts
- Branched Chain Amino Acids – Essential amino acid supplements like leucine directly halt muscle breakdown while stimulating growth factors
As always, introduce adjunctive supplements individually to properly assess effects before stacking together with CBD and nutrition approaches.
Safety Considerations
Current science suggests reasonably safe CBD use for most healthy adult athletes in appropriate serving sizes spaced apart to avoid excessive buildup. However limited research exists establishing safety for adolescents, youth athletes still developing, or other at-risk groups.
While the World Anti-Doping Authority removed CBD from the banned substances list up to a threshold, some residual THC intake risks competitive eligibility for tested athletes. Athletes should confirm the rules set for ingesting hemp-derived CBD.
Reasonable evidence indicates high bioavailability of inhaled CBD appears safe acutely with nominal lung function changes but long-term safety data remains lacking regarding vaping’s tendency for lung damage seen in some individuals after years of heavy nicotine e-cig use. Consider alternating vaping occasionally with other delivery methods.
The Last Word.
Both hardcore athletes and weekend warriors put forward extensive demands on their minds and bodies that unavoidably incur discomfort, soreness, and lowered energy temporarily in between daily training.
Looking for sustainable ways of reducing inflammation and speeding recovery allows more consistent, high-intensity training to excel. This requires balancing exertion spikes with proper rest and recuperation. Assisting the body’s resilience through evidence-based lifestyle tweaks provides that incremental advantage separating the podium finishers from the pack.
