If you’re like most of our audience, you’re likely always looking for ways to keep feeling healthy and vibrant. You likely already know about one of the simplest ways to help your body and brain feel and perform their best is regular exercise. But did you know that CBD has the potential to help you get even more benefit out of the exercise you’re already doing?
In case you aren’t already aware about the benefits of exercise for physical and mental health, here’s what the US National Institute of Health has to say about it:
“Aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proven to reduce anxiety and depression*”
Not a whole lot of room for argument there. And why should there be? We were built to move, plain and simple! We were designed to be hunting and gathering every day just to get the food we need to survive. Our modern lives have changed that quite substantially, and many of us often go a whole day without even breaking a sweat.
But, if you’re reading this, then you’re likely already including a couple workout classes into your week and walking lots every day and doing what you can to make sure you feel your best!
So how does exercise help? Well, on top of all the physiological responses that they dig into in the article I quoted earlier, exercise is great at helping you keep your awareness in your body and in the present moment. When you’re moving your body in any way, especially when you push yourself to the point of needing to catch your breath, you’re not thinking about what you’re going to make for dinner, or the report sitting on your desk you’ve been procrastinating on. You’re sole focus is breathing and keeping up with the instructor that’s making this class look way easier than it actually is!
Keeping your awareness in the present like this is an awesome side effect of exercise. It’s also one of the main goals of meditation, which you can dig into more here. While both of these are great for mental and physical health on their own, how can CBD help them be even better? I’m glad you asked!
Before a workout, using CBD may be super helpful both physically and mentally. Physically, CBD has been shown to help improve endurance and reduce pain through its ability to potentially help reduce inflammation in the body. If you have less inflammation, and less pain, and better endurance, it’s a no brainer to connect the dots to it helping you have a happier workout! If your body feels better, it’ll be a lot easier to keep pushing through that class, and maybe even keep pace with the instructor!
And, if all that weren’t enough, the fact that CBD can potentially help you stay positive in general plays into how it may help in workouts too! Because we all know that before your body gives up, your mind gives up. Since CBD may help you stay positive and focused, you’ll likely be able to keep a smile on your face a little longer than without, which will lead to you getting more out of each workout!
As for after, again the physical benefits of reduced inflammation and pain come into play big time! I’m sure you’ve all felt that soreness that comes the day after a good workout. While this can be enjoyable if you think about the fact that it’s there because your muscles got a good workout, it’s still in general not the best time.
CBD may help reduce the inflammation and pain, which makes your life a whole lot better, and make it a lot more likely that you’ll keep going back to the gym in the future! While it doesn’t take away the need to rest and recover, CBD may help speed up the process a little, and makes it not as rough on your system while you’re recovering.
As you can see, adding CBD into your workout routine may both help you get more out of each workout, and potentially help make the recovery process a little smoother and less painful. This is important because the easier the whole process is on your body, the more likely you are to keep it up and keep looking and feeling beautiful as you age!