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CBD has been a very popular topic amongst athletes these days and we’re very lucky to have in our team two founders, Noah Kaufman, MD and Ian Dory, who have a history of experience and roots in athleticism from training for international world cups, climbing demanding boulders and routes around the world, to meeting the challenging and dynamic obstacle courses on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior.

We are very excited to share Dr. Kaufman’s personal thoughts on CBD and athletic recovery.

“As a physician and former American Ninja Warrior competitor, I know exactly what it feels like as an athlete to be tired and sore from relentless training. Whether or not you are a professional athlete or just trying to stay fit, recovery is crucial to improvement and increasing your performance. As most serious athletes of any sport know, you get stronger and improve more during rest, not during the actual training or performance periods.

Training and pushing your physical limits creates a lot of oxidative stress. This stress is literally a “burning” of your muscles, joints and tendons—and even bones—to push them to adapt to the stresses and rigors of competition or high performance. For years, we have known about “free radicals” which damage cells and tissues and cause inflammation. Inflammation can be a good thing: it can help us release hormones such as growth factor, endothelial growth factor and others that help our bodies get stronger, more nimble and perform better. People have been taking all sorts of supplements to help the body in its healing and restorative process. From simple supplements like free radical killers Vitamin C and fat soluble Vitamin E, to protein and collagen mixtures, there are many ways to combat too much inflammation that can be deleterious as well as provide building blocks for rebuilding structures such as muscles and tendons after they are beat down by the stress of heavy workouts.

CBD—and in particular all USDA Organic, all natural full spectrum cannabis oil—can be extremely helpful in helping to regulate inflammation. CBD works via the endocannabanoid system to impact IL-6, a potent inflammatory cellular messenger. Reducing inflammation is only half the battle that can lead to reduced recovery times and increased peak performance.

All natural CBD tincture (oil/drops) can also reduce anxiety, increase restful and restorative sleep and improve mood. There are no known downsides to taking a CBD supplement, unless you have an extremely rare plant allergy, and CBD is one of the supplements that you can actually feel working. Anecdotally, I have noticed much better recovery and improved performance in my rock climbing when taking our all Natural FoCo Organics brand CBD supplements. And that’s the important part: there are ongoing studies trying to qualify and quantify the benefits to athletes from CBD, but we are all different and react differently to different supplements, medications and therapies. That’s why as physicians and scientists, we are reluctant to say that CBD (or other athletic supplements) are actually proven to be beneficial. It’s harder than you might think to prove that sort of thing. For this reason, and as the medical physician backing the amazing products from the Verde Collection, I encourage you to try these products, but to realize that we are still so early in understanding the ways in which these amazing plant medicines/supplements work.

Will CBD tincture take your athleticism to the next level like it has taken mine? I wish I could say for sure! But, if you are getting the rest you need—and resting enough with good sleep and low stress—then I can tell you your performance will have the best chance for manifesting at its full potential. It’s probably worth a try to get the best recovery and healing that you can to maximize your performance and a great supplement to try is all organic CBD. I recommend trying it for a month, every night before bedtime, and see how this amazing plant can help you achieve your athletic goals and dreams.

Best of luck and train hard!

—Dr. Noah T. Kaufman, MD

Related Product: Natural 1200mg CBD Tincture , Wild Orange 1200mg CBD Tincture , Relief 600mg CBD Body Stick

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