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CBD has gone from being a fringe interest to being one of the mainstays of wellness – and it’s now booming in the fitness world. But what benefits does it boast for athletes like us, and how much evidence is there to suggest that it really works?
You can’t move these days for CBD. Why drink camomile when you could have a CBD tea? Forget olive oil, try CBD oil on your salad. And move over ordinary bath foam – CBD bath bombs are all the rage. But quirky alternatives aside, what does CBD actually do for us and should we be using it as a recovery aid after a heavy workout?
CBD or cannabidiol is the second active ingredient in cannabis after THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – the stuff that gets you high. CBD doesn’t have any psychoactive effect but it is reputed to help the body and mind relax. We know that in strong doses, it can be used to reduce the incidence of seizures in childhood epilepsy by almost 50%, thanks to its anti-seizure properties and studies have shown it to help lower pain and inflammation in people living with arthritis. From a commercial wellness perspective, CBD has been lauded for improving sleep, zapping stress and even enhancing our fitness regimes. Most of us probably don’t need to take it at all, but CBD seems to be growing in popularity so we did some investigating to what evidence there was to support the hype.
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