Some exercisers say cannabis eases their pain and anxiety — and makes fitness more fun.
The first time Samantha O’Brien took a boxing class at her building’s gym, she was overwhelmed with anxiety. The instructor was loud and intimidating and ran the class like a boot camp. If someone fell behind, everyone had to work harder.
Ms. O’Brien, 36, left the class thinking she’d never return. A few days later, her partner came home with some cannabis gummies he said might offer her a burst of energy. She thought of the boxing class, and how she wanted to show the instructor he hadn’t scared her off. So she ate half a gummy, got into her workout clothes and went to the class.
The shouting didn’t bother her anymore. “I was brighter, lighter,” Ms. O’Brien said, adding that the small dose kept her going through the session. Now she frequently mixes cannabis and exercise, regularly attending the boxing class along with Pilates and boot camp workouts after taking weed products.
Scientists have refuted the idea that marijuana is a performance enhancer for competitive athletes. But some amateurs are turning to it before exercise because it eases their chronic pain and anxiety — or just because it makes working out more fun.
Alex Friedrichs, 30, a manager of a chiropractic clinic in Vancouver, Canada, said that cannabis puts her in the moment during exercise. “I appreciate what my body is capable of, what my body is doing and the things I’m seeing around me,” she explained, “like running in a beautiful area or a pretty day.”
Addressing Chronic Pain
In a small 2019 study, the top reasons people used cannabis before exercise were to increase enjoyment and focus. But close behind was pain relief. Research has shown that marijuana can help some patients alleviate chronic pain, which affects some one in five people around the world. When the pain is treated, people become more functional, said Dr. Alan Bell, a physician and assistant professor at the University of Toronto who was the lead author on a set of clinical practice guidelines for using cannabis to treat chronic pain.