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CAN CANNABIS MOTIVATE YOU TO EXERCISE MORE? CU STUDY SUGGESTS YES

 * Tiney Ricciardi
 * January 11, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.
 * Categories: Cannabis, Colorado News, Fitness, Health, Latest Headlines,
   Lifestyle, Marijuana, News, The Know, Things To Do

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A new study from CU Boulder suggests cannabis not only helps runners enjoy
exercise more, but that the plant could be use to motivate others to get active.
(Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)

Cannabis users are often stereotyped as lazy couch potatoes satisfying their
munchies with junk food. But a new study from the University of Colorado pushes
back against that generalization, highlighting how marijuana plays an important
role in fitness for some and how the substance even can be used as a
motivational tool for exercise.

The study, published last month in Sports Medicine, evaluated 42 runners and
compared data points from their experiences exercising both sober and after
smoking a joint. Participants were able to choose whether the strain of cannabis
they consumed was high in cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The
latter produces the feeling of being high.

Runners booked three, 30-minute running sessions on a treadmill at the
university – one to set a baseline, one sober and then one high – and were
periodically asked questions about their motivation and pain levels, and the
enjoyment and difficulty of the workout.



The vast majority of participants (90.5%) reported feeling more enjoyment from
the exercise after consuming cannabis, researchers found. Most also said it
decreased their pain (69%), increased their focus (59.5%) and helped them stay
motivated (57.1%).

Anglea Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU, said the results
aren’t too surprising given she recruited runners who already embrace cannabis
as part of their workout routine. Still, she hopes the results will motivate
others to get active.

“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,”
Bryan said. “If cannabis is one of those tools, we need to explore it, keeping
in mind both the harms and the benefits.”




According to the study, folks don’t need to get high to reap the benefits of
cannabis in this way. Participants who consumed CBD-dominant cannabis more often
reported feelings of euphoria and the so-called runner’s high than those who
consumed THC-dominant strains.

Even if runners had more fun while under the influence, marijuana did not
strengthen their abilities. Less than a third (28.6%) reported that cannabis
improved their performance, noting the workout felt harder and more intense.
That supports findings from one of Bryan’s earlier studies, in which
participants ran 31 seconds slower per mile after smoking weed.



“We know with 100% certainty that THC is not performance enhancing. If anything,
it hurts performance,” Bryan said.



Experts previously believed endorphins caused the runner’s high, but newer
studies suggest it could be a reaction in the body’s endocannabinoid system,
Bryan said. That might be one reason cannabis enables runners to tap into
positive feelings.

AN OPEN SECRET

Bryan’s interest in cannabis use and exercise dates back to the early days of
legalization in Colorado. As a scientist studying how to get people to adopt
healthy habits, she worried wider access to marijuana might lead to more
problematic health outcomes.

In 2015, Bryan began culling existing research about cannabis users and the
results shattered her misconceptions.



“From an epidemiological perspective, it turned out that not only were cannabis
users not less healthy, they were more healthy. They had less incidents of type
2 diabetes, they were less likely to be in a high BMI category. They had better
waist-to-hip ratio, better insulin function — none of the things you would
suspect,” Bryan said. “When we looked more specifically into physical activity,
it turned out cannabis users are more likely to meet activity guidelines than
non-users.”

That inspired her to want to better understand the relationship between exercise
and the intoxicating plant. This study is the first to measure the acute effects
of commercially available cannabis on exercise in a controlled environment, she
said.

Local journalist Josiah Hesse said cannabis use among athletes has long been an
open secret. For his 2021 book “Runner’s High,” Hesse spoke with more than 60
athletes about how they use the substance and found it is common for even
professionals to indulge to enhance pleasure and vigor during training or to
treat pain. Many said it helped them reconnect to their passion for sports
beyond competitions and careers. (Hesse also participated in the CU study.)


Colorado legalized medicinal marijuana in 2000. The plant has long been lauded
for its effects in quelling nausea and alleviating pain, among other benefits.
(Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

“I heard that from ultramarathon runners, who are running 250 miles through
mountains for days and days, that they use cannabis in those experiences.
Olympians, professional basketball players, hockey players, and they’re all
telling me 60-70-80% of their fellow athletes are using cannabis,” Hesse said.

Those cultural norms have led to policy shifts in professional sports. In 2019,
Major League Baseball removed marijuana from its list of banned substances and
as of 2023, players in the National Basketball League will no longer be drug
tested for the substance. MLB even has an official CBD partner now.

However, stigmas around cannabis use remain. In 2021, running phenom Sha’Carri
Richardson was suspended and ultimately missed the Tokyo Olympics after failing
a drug test for marijuana. Though pot is largely understood not to be a
performance-enhancing drug, the World Anti-Doping Agency believes it “violates
the spirit of the sport.”



“How is it that using a THC gummy before a workout violates the spirit of the
sport and drinking a six-pack of beer doesn’t?” Bryan said. “It doesn’t make
sense unless you think about the stigma that’s associated with cannabis that’s
not associated with alcohol.”

Bryan said systemic racism has always been a driving force behind the stigma
around cannabis and that its impacts are evident today, for example, when it
comes to who is willing to participate in studies like hers.

Until recently, Bryan wouldn’t even recommend using cannabis as an adjunct to
exercise. But after someone pressed her about her position in the face of
mounting data about the substance’s perceived benefits — medical marijuana was
legalized in Colorado in 2000 — Bryan reconsidered.




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“I’ve changed my tune, I guess,” she said. “Now I view it as a potential tool in
the toolbox.”

Bryan plans to continue studying cannabis in the context of exercise in hopes of
looking at various consumption methods like edibles and use in other sports
beyond running. (She was quick to note that marijuana isn’t a panacea and that
she has concerns about high-THC concentrates concerning addiction and mental
health.)

Both she and Hesse hope studies like this will encourage people to keep an open
mind about the plant’s potential applications beyond getting high.



“There are still large swaths of this country living in Nancy Reagan’s America,”
Hesse said. “Science like this goes a long to eradicating those misconceptions.”

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