Posted on 01/10/2024 12:41:53 AM PST by Red Badger
Using marijuana can help folks better enjoy a good workout, but it's not going to boost their athletic performance, a new study has found.
A small group of runners reported greater enjoyment and a more intense "runner's high" when they exercised after using marijuana, according to new findings published recently in the journal Sports Medicine.
But runners also reported that exercise felt significantly more difficult if they were high on THC, the chemical in weed that produces intoxication.
"The bottom-line finding is that cannabis before exercise seems to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether you use THC or CBD, but THC products specifically may make exercise feel more effortful," said lead researcher Laurel Gibson, a research fellow with the University of Colorado Boulder's Center for Health and Addiction: Neuroscience, Genes and Environment (CU Change).
The findings defy the long-held stereotype of the couch-bound stoner, the researchers noted.
"We have an epidemic of sedentary lifestyle in this country, and we need new tools to try to get people to move their bodies in ways that are enjoyable," said senior study author Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Colorado and co-director of CU Change.
"If cannabis is one of those tools, we need to explore it, keeping in mind both the harms and the benefits," Bryan added in a university news release.
For the study, researchers recruited 42 Boulder-area people who had previously tried running after using cannabis.
A previous survey had found that four in five weed users have taken marijuana before or just after exercise, researchers said.
Researchers asked the runners to go to a dispensary and buy weed products rich in either cannabidiol (CBD) or THC. CBD is an active ingredient that does not produce intoxication.
The volunteers ran on a treadmill at a moderate pace for 30 minutes in two sessions, one sober and one after using weed. During the run, they answered questions about their workout.
Across the board, participants said they enjoyed their run more when exercising after using cannabis, researchers said.
Participants told researchers that weed:
Increases enjoyment (91%) Decreases pain (69%) Increases focus (60%) Increases motivation (57%) Makes time go by faster (45%) However, only 29% felt that weed improved their performance.
This heightened mood was even greater in the group that used CBD-heavy weed products, suggesting that marijuana's exercise benefits don't necessarily come from intoxication associated with THC, researchers said.
In fact, participants in the THC group found running significantly harder when stoned, possibly because THC increases heart rate, results show.
This jibes with previous studies which found that athletes run 31 seconds per mile slower when stoned on weed than when sober, said Bryan.
"It is pretty clear from our research that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug," Bryan said.
It is likely that weed produces a different kind of "runner's high" by tweaking the same receptors as naturally produced brain chemicals called endogenous cannabinoids, which the body produces after an extended period of exercise, researchers said.
The CBD or THC in weed might allow athletes to tap into that natural high with a shorter workout or enhance it during a longer run, Gibson said.
The researchers warned that using marijuana can make athletes more prone to experience dizziness or lose their balance.
However, they are interested in learning whether weed could help couch potatoes adopt a regular exercise regimen.
"Is there a world where taking a low-dose gummie before they go for that walk might help? It's too early to make broad recommendations, but it's worth exploring," Bryan said.
More information
The Gatorade Sports Science Institute has more on weed and exercise performance.
Yikes, whoever said that it did?! I mean, I know that some of the youngsters are under the false impression that weed is some kind of miraculous wonder drug, but are there really athletes out there who think they can run faster or kick a ball straighter or bike longer by being stoned? Seriously?
Least surprising headline ever.
They need to study scotch next.
The first few times - probably felt good to be wasted while running.
After that , it’s the same.
Working out is work.
I guess I’ll stick to scotch as my pre workout.
/s
Seriously, who possibly thought pot could help?
It’s like, funded by the government, man.
It is not the athletes as much as the officials.
Marijuana is banned by WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) in the Olympics.
The NFL also treats it as a banned substance, grouping it with performance enhancing drugs. Many other sports organizations treat it similarly, though some are starting to come around on it.
It does for hackeysack
LOL.
I thought maybe Venus Flytrap or Dr Johnny Fever.
Johnny fever! Yes that was a funny scene!
Ya....in my own study 50 years ago, it was pretty clear that it slowed reaction times and concentration....
Whut?...........................
Second only to “for the love of G-d, I thought turkeys could fly.”
Baloney! The Legalize Marijuana advocates claim that using marijuana will raise the dead, make the blind see, cause the lame to walk, and perform all miracles and wonders. If only the possession of marijuana is legalized, we will be living once again in the Garden of Eden. It will end all wars, end poverty, end ingrowing toenails. Mankind will not have to work and toil to live. My question is:
Yikes, whoever said that it did?!
__________________________________________________
I teach at a school with a lot of “at-risk” youth. The veneration of drug culture (especially pot) is over-the-top. I’ve heard all sorts of ridiculous claims by students in an attempt to justify marijuana use. One can tell that, in an attempt to get it legalized, weed-users resorted to all sorts of outrageous claims about the “benefits” of smoking it.
Ya....in my own study 50 years ago, it was pretty clear that it slowed reaction times and concentration..........and increased caloric intake.
Everyone alive in the 1960s knows that.
Marijuana boosts couch and TV time and Dorita consumption...but exercise? Not at all.
What does boost athletic performance is a strong cup of coffee.
I ride a road bike at the local state park (very hilly) every week and have kept records for many years on Strava.com. I can look at my records and tell by looking at my average speed and HR when I have had coffee before a ride.
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