The Benefits of CBD for Muscle Recovery

By Mallory Knee | December 22, 2020

Muscle soreness is unavoidable if you’re working on taking your active lifestyle and workouts to the next level. Recovering from injuries and soreness can delay your progress and reduce the amount of time you’re able to spend in the gym. There’s plenty of expensive muscle recovery techniques on the market today, but many of them, such as cryotherapy, are costly with limited availability.   

CBD is a widely available product with plenty of health benefits, including muscle recovery. Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits of CBD for muscle recovery.   

Reduced Muscle Inflammation  

CBD can reduce inflammation, which is a critical component to post-workout recovery. Most people use ice to reduce inflammation after a workout, but this often isn’t enough for strenuous activity. By applying a topical CBD salve to your skin, you can reduce inflammation that has already occurred rather than try to prevent it with ice.   

Decreased Muscle Tension  

Muscle tension is common after a workout, and it can be a sign of injury as well. Standard aids for relieving the pain of muscle tension are muscle relaxers. However, these drugs come with side effects you may want to avoid, such as changes in mood and sedation. Instead, turn to CBD, which doesn’t produce these adverse side effects and still relieves muscle tension.  

Reduced Pain   

Every athlete or avid gym junkie knows how annoying post-workout pain is. CBD is a natural alternative to painkillers. CBD reduces pain through three mechanisms, including:  

• stopping pain transmission in the brain and spinal cord;
• decreasing inflammatory messenger activity; and
• reducing muscle ache sensitivity.

Improved Sleep  

Sleep is essential to muscle recovery, considering your muscles recover during your sleep cycle. While you’re sleeping, your body restores damaged proteins, removes cellular debris, converts lactic acid to glucose in the liver, and stimulates stem cell differentiation into muscle fibers. Conversely, sleep deprivation can boost cortisol levels, decrease insulin-like growth, and reduce testosterone production. CBD can help these processes, resulting in better-quality sleep and faster muscle recovery.  

Improved Energy Levels  

Low energy can kill a workout. Thankfully, CBD works in conjunction with the body’s endocannabinoid system, which restores and manages a natural balance in your body. This process allows for steady, increased energy to keep your workouts high energy.  

These five benefits of CBD for muscle recovery can make a significant difference in how you feel after your workout and how quickly you can get back to the grind.