Whether it’s while you’re in the gym or outside of it, you’re going either injure yourself, and it sucks, because its meant to. Pain is to signal to the body that something is wrong, and it doesn’t discriminate even if the pain is self-inflicted (like those annoying leg -day DOMS!). Since our ancestors were able to feel pain, they’ve looked for ways to numb it, either with herbal medication or more recently thanks to scientific discovery – painkillers.

Painkillers can seem like your best friend when you’ve got a long day at work with a bad injury. Maybe you’ve got gym later after work but you’ve got a nasty headache? People take painkillers all the time, and as a result they’ve come to be viewed as run-of-the-mill medications, especially in sport. But this relaxed opinion on the use of painkillers, especially opiates, has become a big problem in the fitness industry.

There’s Different Kinds Of Painkillers & It’s Good To Know The Difference

Paracetamol: The most commonly used painkiller, paracetamol is so widely used due to its low number of side effects when taken at correct doses. That being said paracetamol is very toxic to the liver if the maximum dose is exceeded. Taking alcohol with paracetamol can increase the chance of toxicity, and people on regular long-term prescriptions of paracetamol who take too much can end up with serious consequences such as liver failure.

NSAIDS: We’ve covered this class of painkiller in our blog on inflammation. Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs are a class of painkillers including aspirin, naproxen, ibuprofen and diclofenac. Commonly taken for sports injuries, these painkillers can help reduce inflammation of damaged tissues, reducing swelling and granting pain relief. You can take NSAIDs alongside paracetamol just fine, but don’t make sure you don’t take one NSAIDs along with another, as overdosing on these kinds of drugs can be extremely damaging to the gut lining of your stomach.

Opiates: Opiate drugs function by blocking opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. Opiates are generally prescribed for treatment of chronic pain. Lower strength opiates include codeine are used mainly for mild to moderate pain. Moderate strength opiates include dihydrocodeine, hydrocodone, tramadol and oxycodone and are prescribed for moderate to severe pain. The strong, high efficacy opiates include well known drugs such as morphine, these are used by injection for severe pain. The side effects of opiates of any strength include drowsiness & sedation, decreased alertness, agitation, nausea, constipation, euphoria and general respiratory problems such as shortness of breath or coughing. As opiates can be taken alongside NSAIDs and paracetamol, a combination of all codeine with the other two classes of painkillers are used. Different opiates should not be combined as this increases the risk of the side effects.

If You Wanted To Know How They Work, Here’s A Brief Explanation

Opiates act as depressants on the central nervous system, and are named after opium, a natural narcotic produced from poppy plant, but opiates can either be synthetic or natural. Opiates bind to specific receptors in the brain and as such sever the connection between the body tissues and the central nervous system. They have a very high risk of addiction due to the feeling of euphoria they can give, and while they may feel great, the symptoms of withdrawal are very difficult to deal with.

These symptoms include muscle aches, irritability, insomnia, abdominal cramping and vomiting. Opiates are also not that great for you – they can knock your bodily systems such as your hormone system completely out of whack, and as we’ve talked about in previous blogs, hormone regulation is important for bodybuilding.

Opiates and Bodybuilding – It’s A Big Problem

The sports, fitness & bodybuilding scene is rife with injuries – everyone’s pushing themselves to the limit, and if you’re competing in any competition, you’re going to want to always train your 100%, and pain from injuries or from muscle tearing can be the difference between first or second place.

It’s no surprise that opiate use in these circles is higher than in Joe public. Research by the University of Washington looking at retired NFL players found that 52% of players used opiates during their active playing days and 71% admitted to misusing them. Opiate misuse isn’t restricted to the NFL either, with wrestling and bodybuilding among other disciplines with documented issues.

In the 2000’s the drug Nubain became very popular with the bodybuilding community due to a number of reasons:

• It helped them to work past their pain thresholds during sets
• It reduced lower back or joint pain
• It was useful for helping them in getting to sleep
• It kept competing bodybuilders cool and calm during those difficult prep weeks when they’re starved of carbohydrates for weeks.

It resulted in a number of bodybuilders becoming addicted, which can lead to the drugs losing the effect, requiring higher doses every time, and can lead down a path of increased doses or transitions to harder opiates such as fentanyl or heroin.

Its important to note that while we’re talking about athletes, power-lifters, strongmen and bodybuilders here – they are first and foremost human beings, and that opiate addiction is a serious problem in our generation across the entire population. However there is an alarming correlation between enhanced bodybuilders and opiate addictions. Multiple scientific studies have linked the abuse of narcotics to the use of performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS).

In 2012 a paper found that use of AAS could increase sensitivity towards narcotics and stimulants, which could increase the chance of developing addiction. Another study looking into the sudden or unnatural deaths of athletes where anabolic steroids were involved found that one-third of cases the death was a result of fatal combinations of steroids and opiates.

CBD Gives You The Benefits With Less Of The Side Effects

CBD manipulates your pain receiving pathways to your central nervous system similar to opiates. While the exact mechanism is still largely unknown, CBD can help with chronic and neuropathic pain, as well as reduce inflammation. CBD also has additional benefits that are just as useful as the pain relief – including triggering the release of endorphins, functioning as a muscle relaxant, and helping to regulate your melatonin and cortisol levels to help calm you down at night and improve the quality of your sleep. The effects of CBD can last three to five hours, and if you take it through liquid drops held in the mouth, the effects can be felt within minutes.

Additionally, unlike opiates, CBD has been found to have very little to no side effects and is recognised to be non-addictive. A 2016 study found that cannabis use was associated with an over 60% decrease in opioid use in patients suffering from chronic pain, with the transition being associated with an improvement to quality of life with less side effects.

CBD can allow you to get the same pain-relief and soothing benefits to help you train your best in the gym without having to sacrifice your health and suffer the side effects.

If you’re interested – here at Nordic Botanics we have multiple natural hemp products with a range of different applications to suit your every need.

References

1. Boehnke, K., Litinas, E. and Clauw, D.J. Medical Cannabis Use Is Associated With Decreased Opiate Medication Use in a Retrospective Cross-Sectional Survey of Patients With Chronic Pain. The Journal of Pain. 17(6) 739-44.
2. Cottler, L.B., Abdallah, A. Ben, Cummings, S.M., Barr, J., Banks, R. and Forchheimer, R. (2011) Injury, pain, and prescription opioid use among former National Football League (NFL) players. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 116(1–3) 188–194.
3. Darke, S., Torok, M. and Duflou, J. (2014) Sudden or Unnatural Deaths Involving Anabolic-androgenic Steroids. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59(4) 1025–1028.
4. Nyberg, F. and Hallberg, M. (2012) Interactions Between Opioids and Anabolic Androgenic Steroids: Implications for the Development of Addictive Behavior. International Review of Neurobiology, 102 189–206.

But another major factor affecting your progress in the gym is controlling and managing your body’s hormones! We’ve touched on the importance of sleep in previous posts, namely its affect on your natural hormone cycle. This time we’re going into more detail on hormones, in particular cortisol, and why you should pay attention to it.

Several hormones play a massive role in bodybuilding and strength training, let’s take a quick summary:

Testosterone: Produced by the adrenal cortex, either in the testes in males or the ovaries in women. Testosterone is a potent steroid hormone with different effects in males and females. In males its an anabolic hormone that can assist in muscle synthesis. While it has a bigger role in male health, its maintenance in the body is also essential to women’s health.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Produced by the pituitary gland, HGH is another anabolic hormone responsible for the repair and growth of tissues. HGH levels peak at around 3 am during sleep – it’s the reasons sleep is essential for tissue repair!

Cortisol: Cortisol is made by your adrenal glands, and is commonly known as your stress hormone. While cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day, and primarily spike in the morning, its levels are also increased by physical or emotional stress. Cortisol is a key metabolic hormone that also has an important role in controlling inflammation, but its catabolic, and high levels can result in the breakdown of muscle tissue or nutrients (carbs, fats, amino acids) to generate glucose and increase blood sugar levels.

Insulin: An essential metabolic hormone required to create metabolic enzymes that assist in the storage of nutrients in the blood. Regular exercise can improve your body’s ability to remove blood sugar, and can assist in fat loss.

Glucagon: The hormone with the opposite effect to insulin. Glucagon is used to break down glycogen and fat stores in the body to increase blood sugar levels.

Melatonin: Produced by the pineal gland, this hormone is what helps us achieve a healthy sleep pattern, with the levels of this hormone being promoted in dark environments, encouraging the wind-down of the body for sleep. Our melatonin levels fluctuate throughout our lives, potentially disrupting our sleep quality.

These little guys help keep your body ticking, and if you want to properly repair and recover from your workouts, you need to make sure you’re bod is functioning at its peak.

We’ll focus on reducing cortisol, as that’s the biggest problem for most athletes or non-athletes in todays modern stressed world!

Why Stressing Out Is Killing You & Your Gym Results

The damages of stress and anxiety are widespread, and if you’re not careful it’ll not just ruin your gym progress, it’ll send you to an early grave. Some of the main problems of stress include:

• It messes your gut up: Ignoring the obvious chronic problems such as stomach ulcers and diarrhoea, constant high levels of stress disrupts nutrient absorption, reduces oxygenation and can slow your blood flow around your body – as much as much as four times! This means your diet can be perfect – but if you’re stressed, you’re not going to get the same benefit.
• It damages your immune system: Stress can dampen your immune system, and reduce its ability to regulate and deal with inflammation. We’re not talking about DOMS here, unregulated inflammation can mess with your cardiovascular system, and even lead to immune system disorders like IBS / IBD (Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Disease).
• Its ageing you faster: I’m not going to bore you with the science, but stress makes your cells age faster. This is visibly shown by wrinkles, drier skin, as well as increased chance of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. You definitely don’t want this as an ageing body synthesises muscle tissue slower, and stress has been shown to age people up to 10 additional years.
• It’s making it harder for you to get lean: Higher cortisol levels have been suggested to play a role in weight gain & obesity, with research showing a positive correlation between cortisol and BMI. We’ve all eaten junk food when stressed – this increase in cravings and appetite due to high cortisol levels can increase the risk of you deviating from your diet and snacking on junk food or cheat meals. Losing fat is an intricate process, and these slip-ups can interrupt your cutting cycle.

So How Does CBD Help?

The body’s endocannabinoid system features receptors for Cannabidiol (CBD) found in virtually every part of the human body. The endocannabinoid system is entwined with the other regulatory systems your body such as the Hypothyroid-Pituitary-Gonadotropin axis (HPG), with receptors being located in the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, the thyroid and the testes/ovaries. Its your bodies homeostasis and it can help bring your hormones back to their natural balance.

General fitness & quality of life benefits: CBD has been shown in a study to reduce cortisol production in the body and lower overall levels. What does this mean? Well it means that it can firstly help you chill out a little easier. Secondly, it’s going to lower your blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Thirdly, It’s going to stop your body reversing all the hard work you put into the gym and help reduce muscle loss.

Enhanced or TRT? CBD can help: The catabolic effect of cortisol are amplified in people using TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) or PED’s (Performance Enhancing Drugs). These drugs can block cortisol binding to receptors in the body, thereby increasing the speed of recovery and reducing muscle-loss. However, this causes the levels of cortisol and cortisol receptors in the body to increase in response, and this increased effect of cortisol is increased even further during off cycle periods! This increase can result in larger overall levels of muscle loss in off-cycles, potentially reversing months of hard work, as well as an amplified case of all the effects of stress described above. Whether it’s medical bills or effort invested into training, it’s probably worth looking at introducing CBD into your routine throughout the year to help reduce and control these increased cortisol levels.

Getting lean could be easier with CBD: CBD has been shown in recent research to promote the production of proteins in the body responsible for fat cell browning. You may be asking what is brown fat and why should I care? Brown fat is a different form of fat storage in the body that doctors used to believe only babies had. Brown fat stores energy in smaller spaces than the more common white fat cells. These cells are iron-rich and packed plenty with mitochondria, giving the cells their brown colour. The major difference between brown fat and white fat is that brown fat also burns calories when it is burned. If CBD promotes the browning of fat cells, it’s suggested it can help you burn fat more efficiently, and scientists claim CBD could be a promising anti-obesity therapeutic.

Whether you’re a professional athlete and you’re wanting to maximise the results you get from training, or if you’re just concerned about the effects of juggling a hectic life alongside the gym, we believe here at Nordic Botanics that CBD could help reduce the effects of high cortisol levels on your body. We can’t make your life less stressful – that’s just life! What we can do it help reduce the impact it has on your life and your training.

References

1. Donoho, C.J., Weigensberg, M.J., Emken, B.A., Hsu, J.-W. and Spruijt-Metz, D. (2011) Stress and abdominal fat: preliminary evidence of moderation by the cortisol awakening response in Hispanic peripubertal girls. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 19(5) 946–52.
2. Parray, H.A. and Yun, J.W. (2016) Cannabidiol promotes browning in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 416(1–2) 131–139.
3. Zuardi, A.W., Guimarães, F.S. and Moreira, A.C. (1993) Effect of cannabidiol on plasma prolactin, growth hormone and cortisol in human volunteers. Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas, 26(2) 213–7.

Inflammation is a natural process of the body, its caused by white blood cells, and its normal function is to protect the body from damage caused by infection or wounds. It occurs when your blood vessels expand to allow more blood to flow to the affected area normally to fight infection or heal any tissue damage. Anyone involved in fitness, be it bodybuilders, power-lifters, strongmen or anyone in between knows all about this stickler – you injure your ankle or your wrist, it swells up, and you lose your range of motion.

It hurts, make’s walking around the office the next day feel like hell, and that’s your training limited for the next few days/weeks and your progress is going to get set back.

While you’re out for injury, your competition is making progress!

You’ve Probably Heard Of DOMs…

Normal inflammation is actually a necessary part of the recovery process caused by tearing your muscle fibres during intense workout – Delayed-onset muscle soreness (we all know DOMS) is the pain and soreness in your muscles once you’ve trained them in the gym, and occur more when you change up your workout style, or have had a long break. These DOMS normally subside between 24-72 hours after your workout. While a normal response, its still nothing you want – and if you’re training at the gym 5 or more days that week, it’s going to affect your workout.

Acute inflammation can be a little more serious though, it can affect your joints. This is due to the repetitive strain placed on your joints from the multiple reps, or from the sheer weight placed on them. It’s going to happen at some point, and you’re going to want to be ready to reduce its impact. The symptoms of acute inflammation are normally:

• Redness
• Swelling
• Pain
• Stiffness of the affected joints

The symptoms of acute inflammation are for the majority of the time mild – maybe you went a little harder at the gym today, who knows? Because of this inflammation can often times go undetected and if it goes on longer you’ll be at risk of it worsening, or it could even result in injury. We love pushing ourselves in the gym, but pushing too hard with intense workouts and no recovery periods can lead to you over-training your body and actually reverse the progress you’re making in terms of size and strength gains.

Medication, Medication… Medication?

Sure you can pop over to the convenience store or even go to your doctor, but either way its going to end up with an ice-pack and ibuprofen to reduce the swelling. Doctors regularly prescribe an array of anti-inflammatory medication, but these pills may not be the most ideal solution. Ibuprofen is classified as an Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID), along with other over the counter drugs such as aspirin & naproxen.

Most NSAIDS work by blocking two major enzymes involved in inflammation. One is responsible for the regulation of your inflammatory response, while the other mainly assists in blood-clotting and for the protection of your stomach lining. The problem with NSAIDs is that this double blocking of both enzymes can result in a disruption to the stomach lining, which can cause serious gastric problems such as gastrointestinal bleeding and even ulcers.

Other side effects such as heartburn, dizziness, headaches, high blood pressure and liver & kidney problems can also arise from using NSAIDs, with the chance of an adverse reaction being over 25% in one report, and over 100,000 users hospitalised every year due to the reaction!

As an athlete, it’s time to retrain your mindset from “DOMS need Ibuprofen” if you want to break ahead and recover like the Pros!

Why CBD Over NSAIDs?

A natural alternative to prescription and OTC medicines is using CBD – and obviously we’re a fan at Nordic Botanics!

With its high tolerance within the body, low toxicity and extreme rarity of adverse reactions reported, CBD is a safe, natural and easy method of easing the symptoms commonly associated with chronic or acute inflammation. Unlike THC, CBD indirectly interacts with receptors in the endocannabinoid system and regulates the release of your body’s own cannabinoids, avoiding the psychoactive side effects you don’t want to be having on workout day!

Non-pure CBD extracts can also contain up to more than 400 trace compounds, with most studies on CBD focusing on pure extracts, but research suggest these peripheral phytocannabinoids may also play an effect within the body, and have their own therapeutic effects. Together these various compounds have been thought to work in synergy to combat inflammation.

This is why at Nordic Botanics, we combine multiple sources of Hemp extract to create a proprietary broad spectrum blend of cannabinoids, which we use in all our CBD products.

Terpenes are volatile compounds that quickly evaporate into the air (they have a very low boiling point). They have been known for their aromatherapy properties for many years and they are characterised by their fragrant smell – maybe you’re already familiar with the unique aroma of Hemp/Weed – that’s terpenes! There are around 200 terpenes found in the cannabis : sativa plant, while generally making up only one percent of extracts, and are recognised GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) by the USA FDA. While still not fully understood, recent research suggests that terpenses may have much more powerful physiological benefits than first thought, when combined with CBD and other cannabinoids.

Beta-caryophyllene is a terpene found in black pepper, oregano & other edible herbs, leafy green vegetables as well as many cannabis strains. It’s the reason you’re told leafy green vegetables are so healthy to eat! The qualities of this compound involve anti-inflammatory properties outside of NSAID route of enzyme inhibition, by binding to receptors in the endocannabinoid system all over the body. It has been shown to even improve gastrointestinal health, improve protection of the stomach and also increase the bioavailability of CBD.

Using CBD To Make Workout DOMs Suck Less

Taking CBD has been shown to indirectly interact with the receptors in your endocannabinoid system, increasing blood flow around your body and tissues, allowing compounds such as oxygen and nitrogen to help repair and feed your muscles. While CBD can help with all kinds of inflammation, its especially effective against muscle systems and the digestive system, both key aspects in your fitness. Remember a good diet and gut health is essential for muscle growth and repair just as much if not more so than training!

CBD also removes the risk of overdose associated with using other anti-inflammation medication such as ibuprofen & aspirin, as CBD is incredibly non-toxic with few adverse reactions reported – and as such it is nearly impossible to overdose on CBD .

Recent studies have shown CBD reducing inflammation and decreasing the damage done on intestinal samples from humans suffering from Ulcerative Colitis, an auto-immune disease similar to Crohn’s disease that results in the inflammation of the intestine.

Another study in 2016 showed that CBD was able to significantly reduce joint swelling caused by arthritis in rats, and as a result the tests showed reduced spontaneous pain and reduced synovial fluid (the lubrication in your joints) thickening, and the benefits increased along with the dose. These results means CBD could have therapeutic potential for relief of inflammation caused by arthritis.

Here at Nordic Botanics we’ve heard from professional athletes using our products that the anti-inflammatory qualities of our product prove incredibly beneficial for maximising workouts, removing those pesky DOMS and reducing the incidence and recovery time of any acute inflammatory injuries.

How Can You Minimise The Impact Of Inflammation

Are you suffering with excessive inflammation? It happens to everyone and is almost par-for-the-course when pushing hard in training, so here are some additional tips to help you avoid & recover from inflammation and injury:

Follow a progressive training program. Have you just started back at the gym? Or are you trying a new routine? The best advice to avoid injuring yourself is to start slow and light and gradually increase the difficulty and perceived exertion of your workouts. This goes for experienced athletes too! This allows your body to slowly accustom to the new stresses on your body and removes the risk of over-training and overly-stressing your body. (If you want to know more in-depth about the benefits about this stuff read here)

Allow adequate recovery time in your workouts: Everyone recovers at different rates, however knowing your body and giving yourself adequate recovery time is essential. A good general rule of thumb is to leave at least 48 hours between re-working a muscle group.

You are what you eat – Eat a diet that fights inflammation. We don’t need to tell you to eat your veggies to be big and strong, that’s Popeye’s shtick. But being mindful of certain foods that are proven to prevent and reduce the effects of inflammation can never hurt. Spices like ginger & turmeric, fruits like apples and tomatoes, leafy green vegetables such as broccoli & kale, whole grains and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts & pistachios) have all been shown in research to have anti-inflammatory properties in the body, and are things that should be regularly included in your balanced diet to help maintain a healthy injury-free body.

References

1. Bessa, A., Nissenbaum, M., Monteiro, A., Gandra, P.G., Nunes, L.S., Bassini-Cameron, A., Werneck-de-Castro, J.P.S., de Macedo, D.V. and Cameron, L.-C. (2008) High-intensity ultraendurance promotes early release of muscle injury markers. British journal of sports medicine, 42(11) 889–93. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18203867.
2. Clarkson, P.M. and Hubal, M.J. (2002) Exercise-induced muscle damage in humans. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 81(11 Suppl) S52-69. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12409811.
3. De Filippis, D., Esposito, G., Cirillo, C., Cipriano, M., De Winter, B.Y., Scuderi, C., Sarnelli, G., Cuomo, R., Steardo, L., De Man, J.G. and Iuvone, T. (2011) Cannabidiol Reduces Intestinal Inflammation through the Control of Neuroimmune Axis S. Gaetani (ed.). PLoS ONE, 6(12) e28159. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163000.
4. Gor, A.P. and Saksena, M. (2011) Adverse drug reactions of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in orthopedic patients. Journal of pharmacology & pharmacotherapeutics, 2(1) 26–9. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701643.
5. Hammell, D.C., Zhang, L.P., Ma, F., Abshire, S.M., McIlwrath, S.L., Stinchcomb, A.L. and Westlund, K.N. (2016) Transdermal cannabidiol reduces inflammation and pain-related behaviours in a rat model of arthritis. European journal of pain (London, England), 20(6) 936–48. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26517407.
6. Roubenoff, R. (2008) Molecular Basis of Inflammation: Relationships Between Catabolic Cytokines, Hormones, Energy Balance, and Muscle. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 32(6) 630–632. Available from http://doi.wiley.com/10.1177/0148607108324875.
7. Russo, E.B. (2011) Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects. British journal of pharmacology, 163(7) 1344–64. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21749363.

Training and recovery are the most essential factors for anyone involved in sport, including bodybuilding, power lifting and overall strength training. Any form of resistance training contributes to the changing of the composition of your body. This includes the tearing of muscle fibres and following creation of additional muscle fibres, along with the burning of fat for example.

Because of this, any form of resistance training is stressful for the body – and when your body is stressed, it’s going to need to rest & recover! The obvious and required way to do this is to get a good nights sleep. The benefits of good quality sleeping for people involved in fitness regimes of any kind is, in general:

• Improved lean muscle mass
• Increased stamina and strength in the gym
• Improved muscle fibre recovery

In simple terms, its anabolic and it drastically improves your gains.

This is due to the well-documented benefits of good quality Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM), or Slow-Wave Sleep, that has been known for years – it keeps your bodies natural hormone cycle maintained and balanced. Your daily hormone cycle is normally referred to as your circadian rhythm, and up-keeping the regular functioning of this is essential for athletes wanting to get the absolute maximum out of their training. If your struggling to get to sleep at night or having restless sleep, chances are it could be due to your problems with your circadian rhythm.

Here are a few of the major hormones regulated during your day and what effect they have on your body:

• Cortisol: This is known as the ‘stress hormone’ due to it being released when your body or mind is put under stress. High levels of this hormone cause increased metabolism of muscle tissue and increases blood sugar levels. The levels of this hormone normally peaks in the morning , and its what wakes you up.
• Melatonin: This hormone signals your body to sleep, and normally spikes at night or in increased darkness. Things like blue light from screens at late hours can affect the release of this hormone.
• Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Any athlete will have heard of HGH. This is an essential hormone for growth tissue and repair, there are numerous claims of different activities which can raise the bodies HGH production, but one definitive way to produce HGH naturally is through sleep! The highest levels are found in sleeping patients around 3 am, as your body takes time to properly repair the damaged tissues in the body.
• Insulin: Another important hormone is insulin, responsible for the production of vital metabolic enzymes that can assist in fat loss, while also assisting in the storage of nutrients in the body.
• Testosterone: Testosterone is an anabolic hormone as most athletes know, and contributes to strength and muscle repair. This hormone has a cycle just like your other hormones. Peak levels of this hormone are normally found in the morning.

The maintenance of a proper sleep/wake cycle regulates all these hormones and in turn your alertness and energy throughout the day, helping you maintain efficient and healthy metabolism, while reduces blood pressure and improving the overall health of the heart.

How Big A Problem Is This?

Now your average Joe is busy, we’ve all got stuff to do and getting a good 8 hours sleep can sometimes feel like an impossible task, and when you finally manage to get your head on the pillow early, your mind is running at 500 miles an hour and you’re struggling to switch off – everyone’s been there, and it shows in the research. A large proportion of adults report having problems with sleeping several nights a week.

While exercise is normally recommended to improve peoples ability to sleep, research has found that a study group of Olympic athletes can actually suffer from a poorer quality of sleep than an age and sex matched non-athletes, and if you’re wanting to take your training to the next level, disruptions like this could hinder your progress. Disturbed sleep can result in consistently high levels of cortisol, and the natural fluctuating rhythm of your body can be thrown off. This offset rhythm can slow recovery, and even cause catabolic effects in the body, potentially reducing muscle mass and hindering muscle regeneration and growth.

Reduced sleep has been found to be the strongest predictor of injury in young athletes – more so than hours of practise, and partial sleep deprivation was correlated with reduced strength in compound lifts such as bench press, leg press and dead lift. As a professional athlete or just a regular gym-goer, injuries are absolutely detrimental to your progress, and should be avoided at all costs! Because of this, maintaining a healthy sleep cycle is even more essential to anyone involved in sport or fitness, either casual or professional level.

Sleeping Pills or CBD?

It’s no wonder then that people suffering from dysfunctional sleep often turn to prescription sedatives, hypnotics, Over-The-Counter (OTC) sleep drugs or herbal sleep aids to combat poor sleep, however studies conducted in 2016 have shown that these methods can sometimes be more harm than good, with hypnotics actually showing increased mortality rates in users and in some cases actually hindered the quality of sleep and disrupting hormone levels further.

Fortunately, the endocannabinoid system within our own bodies has a widespread role in the body, and plays a distinct role in our bodies sleep / wake cycle. Because CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system, supplementing with CBD can help your body relax and transition to the sleep phase of your daily cycle, while lowering your cortisol levels to reduce anxiety and increasing your melatonin release to help induce sleep.

CBD has been shown in published research and recent case reports to increase total sleep time and reduce insomnia effects produced by anxiety or PTSD while decreasing the frequency of arousal during the night. Unlike other prescription drugs or OTC sleep aids, CBD is generally well tolerated by the average person, and features a good safety profile with very low instances of side-effects according to the World Health Organisation.

According to feedback, we’ve heard how much our customers really love our products for the sleep assisting benefits. The ability to safely improve your sleeping pattern is essential for anyone seeking to reach the next level in their training and achieve the best results for either strength programs or hypertrophy.

Other lifestyle modifications you can incorporate into your life to help in improving sleep quality

Create a sleeping routine. This sounds like common-sense right? Making sure you get to bed early and get a good eight hours sleep, however if you’re particularly stressed and struggling to wind-down, try incorporating a relaxing bedtime routine to remind your body that its time to shut down. Things like drinking a warm beverage, doing some simple stretches or even running a bath to help warm your body up to a sleepy temperature.

Avoid over stimulating yourself with screens. We all love to have a browse down the old Instagram or Facebook feed while laid in bed, but this could actually be potentially be keeping your mind running at night for longer. Countless studies have reported that the bright blue light from your phone screen or TV keeps your brain activated, reducing the time your body spends in Slow-wave sleep, and overall reducing the quality of your sleep.

Aim to reduce stimulants intake in the afternoon or at night. This one is simple. Caffeine, alcohol and tobacco among other things can hinder your brains ability to ‘turn-off’. Athletes and gym-goers are notorious for taking high doses of caffeine, and it’s most likely in your favourite pre-workout! Ideally you want to avoid all stimulants before 2 pm – caffeine is able to stay active in your system for up to 8 hours, so consider investing in a caffeine-free pre-workout if you plan on working out later on in the day so you can still enjoy those crazy pumps and increased endurance without interfering with your body clock.

Use natural aromatherapy. We love CBD and the Hemp plant at Nordic Botanics, but nature provides many other sleep aids that research has proven can create a more relaxing environment. We’re big fans of lavender in our products, but you can also buy a inexpensive lavender room spray to help slow down in the evenings.

References

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