What are the benefits of CBD for athletes?

Studies have found that CBD has a host of health and wellness benefits, including helping to manage pain and inflammation, stress levels and anxiety, regulating your sleeping pattern and digestion; all of which are highly useful for athletes. 

According to scientific research, CBD can reportedly help to regulate and enhance our body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), which works with the natural cannabinoid receptors in our brain and immune system.

Josh Holman, an Ironman triathlete and World Championship qualifier, has been using CBD as part of his daily exercise routine over the past few months and has already observed positive changes.

He says: “After reading several research-led articles on the benefits of CBD for athletes, I have been using it for almost six months and have seen some great benefits from doing so.

“As someone who has always struggled with sleep, I take CBD oil before bed to help me switch off and relax, which in turn helps my muscles to recover quicker post-workout!

“When training at such a high intensity, sleep is crucial to your recovery, which is why it has been so useful for me and why I still continue to use it regularly. After my own positive experience, I have also recommended trying CBD products to all of the athletes who I currently coach.”

While there are many rules and regulations around the use of CBD oil in competitive sport, CBD was removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) prohibited substance list in 2018 and can be used freely by athletes across almost every sporting discipline.

Like Josh, many athletes have started to take CBD products in recent years to boost both their performance and recovery.

One of the most well-known and widely researched uses of CBD oil is for pain management and muscular recovery.

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) helps your body maintain a state of balance and stability known as homeostasis.

The body produces endocannabinoids, which are neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors in your nervous system.

Studies have shown that CBD may help reduce chronic pain by impacting endocannabinoid receptor activity, reducing inflammation and interacting with neurotransmitters.

These properties make CBD highly useful for athletes as it can help to lessen recovery time from regular training and competition, or other sport-related injuries.


Commenting on research that highlights the benefits of CBD for athletes, James Leavesley, director of cannabis-based products firm CHOICE CBD, says: “CBD can reportedly help with a whole host of health and wellness conditions, with recent studies have linked the use of CBD with improved sleep duration and quality. High-quality sleep is essential for athletes, to support their health and training.

“Many of our body’s most vital processes occur while we sleep, including repairing damage and building new tissue. This makes sleep vital to muscle growth and also helps to improve focus and concentration.

As of 2018, CBD is not included in the WADA’s list of prohibited substances, therefore professional athletes can use CBD while competing in any competition – including the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. As CBD is completely legal and is considered a novel food, there is no risk of failing a drugs for athletes.

With the benefits of CBD products being openly endorsed by a host of famous athletes including mixed martial artistsNate Diaz and Alex Montagnani and rugby player James Haskell, it seems that the use of such products among athletic figures will only continue to become more widespread in the future.