There cannabis before a workout can increase motivation and make exercise more enjoyable. But if performance is the goal, it might be best to skip that joint. This is the result of the first-ever study to examine how legal, commercially available cannabis affects the sensation of exercise.
The outcomes of research were published in Sports Medicine.
Cannabis: training is more fun but less efficient
The study of 42 runners comes almost exactly 10 years after Colorado became the first state to begin legal sales of recreational cannabis, at a time when consumers increasingly report mixing it with workouts.
“The key conclusion is that cannabis before exercise appears to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether THC or CBD is used. But THC products in particular can make exercise more strenuous,” said first author Laurel Gibson, a researcher at the CU Center for Health and Addiction: Neuroscience, Genes and the Environment (CU Change).
The findings, and the team's previous research, appear to challenge long-standing stereotypes that associate cannabis with “couch lock” and instead raise an intriguing question: Could the plant play a role in getting people moving?
“We have an epidemic of sedentary lifestyles in this country, and we need new tools to try to get people to move their bodies in pleasant ways,” said senior author Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience and co-director of Cambio CU. “If cannabis is one of these tools, we need to explore it, keeping in mind both the harms and the benefits.”
In a previous survey of cannabis users, Bryan's research team found that a whopping 80% had used before or immediately after exercise. Yet very little research has been conducted on the intersection of the two.
For the study, Bryan and Gibson recruited 42 volunteers from the Boulder area who were already running while using cannabis.
After a baseline session, in which the researchers took fitness measurements and survey data, they assigned participants to go to a dispensary and pick a designated strain of flower that contained primarily cannabidiol (CBD) or a dominant strain of tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC).
THC and CBD are the active ingredients in cannabis, and THC is known to be more intoxicating.
During a follow-up visit, volunteers ran on a treadmill at a moderate pace for 30 minutes, periodically answering questions to rate how motivated they felt, how much fun they were having, how hard the workout was, how fast the time seemed to pass and their pain levels.
On another visit, they repeated this test after using cannabis.
Federal law prohibits the possession or distribution of marijuana on college campuses, so the runners used it at home, before being picked up in a mobile lab, also known as a “CannaVan,” and driven to the lab.
Runners also wore a seat belt on the treadmill.
Overall, participants reported greater enjoyment and more intense euphoria, or “runner's high,” when exercising after using cannabis. Surprisingly, this mood improvement was even greater in the CBD group than in the THC group, suggesting that athletes may be able to get some mood benefits without the discomfort that can come from THC.
Participants in the THC group also reported that the same running intensity felt significantly harder when running with cannabis compared to running sober. This may be because THC increases heart rate, Bryan said.
In an earlier remote study, she and Gibson found that while runners had more fun under the influence of cannabis, they ran 31 seconds per mile slower: “It's pretty clear from our research that cannabis is not a drug that improves performance,” Bryan said.
Notably, numerous elite athletes, including US sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, have been banned from competing in recent years after testing positive for marijuana. An NCAA committee recently recommended removing it from the list of banned substances.
Why does cannabis make exercise feel better?
While natural endorphins and painkillers have long been attributed to the famous “runner's high,” more recent research suggests that this is a myth: instead, naturally produced brain chemicals known as endogenous cannabinoids are likely at play, coming into play. after a long period of exercise to produce euphoria and alertness.
“The reality is that some people will never experience the runner's high,” notes Gibson.
By consuming CBD or THC, cannabinoids that bind to the same cannabinoid receptors that our brains naturally produce, athletes might be able to reach that level with a shorter workout or improve it during a long one, he said.
Athletes considering cannabis use should be aware that it can pose risks, including dizziness and loss of balance, and is not for everyone.
For someone aiming for a fast 5K or marathon PR, there's really no point in using it early, Bryan said. But for an ultrarunner who's just trying to push through the fatigue of a double-digit training run, it might.
As a public health researcher, Bryan is very interested in how it could potentially impact those who have difficulty exercising, either because they can't get motivated, it hurts, or they just don't like it.
“Is there a world where taking a low-dose gummy before taking that walk could help? It is too early to make general recommendations, but they are worth exploring,” she said.
As an ultramarathoner who covers up to 100 miles a week during peak training, Heather Mashhoodi has to get creative to make the miles go by faster.
Listen to podcasts and audiobooks and admire natural beauty. And when his enthusiasm begins to wane mid-run, she pops half of a marijuana gummy into her mouth.
“When I run for a long time, this thing naturally kicks in and makes the colors brighter, my thoughts clearer and makes me more emotionally in tune,” says Mashhoodi, 31. “When I use cannabis and run, I feel good.” to feel it with a little less intense mileage.”
Mashhoodi is among a growing number of athletes who mix weed with workouts, whether to boost motivation, facilitate recovery or find more enjoyment in exercise.
Due to a lack of research, scientists are unsure how tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), the two main active ingredients in marijuana, affect physical activity. But in the wake of sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson's Olympic suspension for testing positive for marijuana (a banned substance under World Anti-Doping Agency rules), the question has become the subject of much scientific debate: Does cannabis improve or hinder performance? Or both? And if so, how?
The SPACE study (Study of Physical Activity and the Effects of Cannabis) enrolled more than 50 paid adult volunteers who already mix cannabis and exercise for a three-session study. In the first, researchers measure heart rate, ask subjects to answer a questionnaire and take some basic fitness measurements. Then, participants are tasked with going to a local dispensary and picking up a specific CBD-dominant strain or a THC-dominant strain.
During a follow-up visit, they return, sober, to running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, answering questions every 10 minutes to assess such things as their perception of the passage of time, how hard the workout is, what they are thinking about, and how much pain they feel. On another visit, they do the same, only they get high before coming.
Federal law prohibits the possession or distribution of marijuana on college campuses, so subjects take it home, before a researcher collects them in a mobile lab – a white Dodge Sprinter van sometimes called a “cannavan” – and brings them home safely and safe at home. the lab. Another precautionary measure: The runner wears a black seat belt around his waist on the treadmill.
By comparing sober sessions to sessions that include cannabis, Gibson and his colleagues hope to make sense of a puzzling contradiction in cannabis research.
“Cannabis is often associated with a decline in motivation, that stereotypical couch-lock and laziness,” Gibson said. “But at the same time, we're seeing an increasing number of anecdotal reports of people using it in combination with everything from golf to yoga to snowboarding to running.”
A CU Boulder study found that 80% of cannabis users mix weed and training, with 70% saying it increases enjoyment, 78% saying it increases recovery, and 52% saying it motivates them. Interestingly, another study of older adults found that those who used marijuana exercised more than those who didn't.
“As we get older, exercise starts to hurt, and that's one reason older adults don't exercise as much,” said Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neu
roscience and Gibson's faculty advisor for the SPACE study, highlighting that cannabinoids have anti-inflammatory properties. -inflammatory and analgesic properties. “If cannabis could relieve pain and inflammation, helping older adults to be more active, that could be a real benefit.”
Even more intriguing, some studies suggest that it is not endorphins that are responsible for the famous “runner's high,” but rather endogenous cannabinoids, naturally produced cannabinoid-like brain chemicals that kick in after a period of exercise, binding to receptors. in the brain to make us euphoric and alert. By ingesting CBD or THC, which bind to those same receptors, athletes could, as Mashhoodi describes, enhance or gain an advantage on that good feeling.
“It is possible that exogenous cannabinoids such as THC or CBD could activate the endocannabinoid system in a way that mimics a runner's high,” Gibson said.
Researchers are quick to note that cannabis is also associated with negative effects, including paranoia, confusion, and anxiety. They will also look for those effects.
Ultimately, they hope their findings can help inform discussions everywhere from doctors' practices to sports governing bodies, which will soon reevaluate whether marijuana should remain listed as a “banned substance,” in part because of its potential to improve performance.
Mashhoodi, one of the first to join the study, said she was skeptical that cannabis would provide any performance benefits. She said she doesn't run faster or farther when she's high. But he feels less joint pain and, on a psychological level, the benefits are evident.
She's eager to see what the study reveals.
“It's just exciting for me to participate,” Mashhoodi said. “We know so little and there is so much we need to learn.”
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