CBD Provides Pain Relief, Improves Sleep And Aids Relaxation, Study Involving Olympic Athletes Shows

Elite athletes find cannabidiol, or CBD, useful for soreness and recovery,
a new study shows.

Researchers found that top competitors use CBD to manage pain, improve
sleep and ease the stress of training at the highest level. But the results
suggest that even as many athletes believe the cannabis compound helps them
recover, they also worry that using it could jeopardize their careers under
international anti-doping rules.

The study, conducted between late 2021 and mid-2023 and published this
month in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, surveyed 80 elite Canadian
athletes across 27 national sport organizations. To be included, athletes
needed to have experience as part of the country’s Olympic or Paralympic
team program.

About 38 percent reported using CBD at some point, and nearly a third of
those said they were still using it at the time of the survey.

The participants’ motivations reflect a broader societal trend of relying
on CBD for therapeutic benefit. The study found that 96 percent of CBD
users said they believed the substance was safe, 93 percent said it
improved their sleep, 90 percent said it helped them relax and 77 percent
credited it with reducing pain from training.

“Thirty eight percent of athletes self-reported using CBD, and cumulatively
agreed or strongly agreed that CBD improved sleep and relaxation, reduced
pain from training, and enhanced physical and mental recovery following
training or competition.”

Despite the reported benefits, CBD use among athletes remains a
controversial topic. Although the World Anti-Doping Agency removed CBD from
its list of banned substances in 2018, all other cannabinoids—including
THC—remain prohibited. This creates conditions the authors describe as “a
fine line between unintentional doping and intentional use of cannabis
products.”

Because many commercially available CBD products contain trace levels of
these banned compounds, athletes who rely on them may be risking
inadvertent doping violations. That concern, researchers found, was the
single most common reason athletes chose not to try CBD or stopped using it
altogether.

The authors, affiliated with McGill University and the Canadian Sport
Institute, also noted that “some CBD-fortified foods and beverages have
been reported to convert CBD into THC under low pH conditions…potentially
yielding sufficient THC (3 mg) to trigger a positive urine test for
prohibited cannabinoids.”

They further observed that physical exertion prior to testing may increase
detectable THC levels.

Altogether, the situation puts athletes in a kind of limbo. Those who feel
genuine relief from CBD are left to navigate a market where product labels
can’t always be trusted and scientific guidance remains sparse. Many said
they first heard about CBD through friends or online, not from sports
physicians or trainers.

“Many athletes expressed concerns about the potential for inadvertent
anti-doping rule violations due to CBD product contamination with THC or
other banned cannabinoids.”

“Given that athletes frequently reported obtaining information on CBD from
friends and online sources,” the authors wrote, “there is also a need to
test interventions that enhance evidence-based knowledge among both
athletes and clinicians.”

The study comes following sports leagues in the U.S. taking steps to update
their marijuana policies as legalization becomes more widespread, including
the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National
Football League (NFL).

An NFL-funded study from 2024 found that marijuana use is becoming more
widely accepted among athletes. The authors of that paper noted that
“education and awareness on benefits and potential harm is needed for
athletes, medical staff, and policymakers.”

Meanwhile, the Major League Baseball (MLB) removed marijuana from its list
of banned substances in 2019. The National Basketball Association followed
suit in 2023.

The post CBD Provides Pain Relief, Improves Sleep And Aids Relaxation,
Study Involving Olympic Athletes Shows appeared first on Marijuana Moment.