Strained muscles and physical injuries due to repetitive motions aren’t limited to basketball players, gymnasts, or wrestlers. Anyone who engages in sports—including esports—has a high risk of suffering from sore backs, swollen joints, and other inflammations on various parts of the body.

Whether you’re a professional esports player or an amateur gamer, spending countless hours playing video games could lead to painful conditions that tend to be quite disruptive to your day-to-day life.

If this sounds all too familiar to you, we might have the ideal remedy for you: CBD patches.

This article will go over how fans of video games can better manage their pain symptoms through this non-psychoactive cannabinoid derived from the hemp plant. We’re also going to tackle some other benefits of taking CBD (cannabidiol) that may help you take your gaming skills to the next level. The latter part covers the valuable tips and reminders about this cannabinoid for gamers who have not yet encountered or used CBD products before.   

Physical injuries due to extended gaming hours have been rising in recent years. The popularity of esports and the stream of new game releases have grabbed the attention of people from all walks of life—sometimes to the point of strained muscles and chronic pain. Here is a quick rundown of the usual body parts that take the brunt of the negative impact of excessive gaming.

Aptly nicknamed the “gamer’s thumb”, De Quervain syndrome occurs due to the over-usage of the thumbs. The tendons that connect to the muscles on our thumbs become inflamed due to repetitive motions and the near-constant application of pressure required to operate a video game controller. As a result, you won’t be able to move the affected thumb without experiencing pain and discomfort.

Carpal tunnel syndrome primarily affects the wrist, but the pain and numbness can extend to your hands and forearms when you ignore it or refuse to get it treated. This physical condition develops when the median nerve found in each wrist is regularly compressed to the point that blood flow to and from the area becomes restricted.

Situations that could cause this involves excessive gripping, incorrect hand placement, or increased hand or arm tension—all of which tend to happen while you’re too engrossed with a video game.

Lateral epicondylitis—better known as tennis elbow—is characterized by acute pain and tingling sensations on the elbows up to the forearms. It occurs when the tendons that attach the forearm to the elbow have become inflamed because of repetitive movements.

If you have poor posture while gaming or if you’ve made some wrong calls in the ergonomics of your gaming setup, you would likely suffer from an aching back and stiff neck. While this can be easily remedied, a 2020 survey involving esports athletes has revealed that the primary pain sites of the participating gamers are as follow:

• Back – 31%
• Shoulders – 11.3%
• Neck – 11.3%

As you can see, playing video games won’t keep you from going through some of the most common injuries associated with traditional sports or physical workouts. Since most of these are caused by inflammations, we believe that the therapeutic benefits of CBD patches may be the key to enjoying video games to the fullest again.

A CBD patch delivers cannabidiol directly to the bloodstream through the skin. If you’ve seen or used a nicotine patch, you would have a good idea of how this product appears and works.

The human skin absorbs the content of transdermal patches without breaking them down, like what happens when we ingest something through the digestive system. CBD topicals, including patches, tend to have a higher bioavailability—which refers to the ratio of a substance that we have taken versus the amount that reaches our bloodstream.

Compared to other types of topical products, transdermal patches have other advantages, too.

Some CBD users take issue with the delivery speed of topicals. Though you may feel the effects within 10 to 15 minutes after application, the full impact of a CBD topical may take up to 1 to 2 hours before reaching its peak.

On the other hand, CBD patches usually contain permeation enhancers that quicken the process by 3.7 times more, while also increasing the amount of CBD that your skin will absorb.

While many topicals claim that they have non-greasy formulas, they still leave some sticky or oily residue when we apply them using our bare hands. That could cause a minor annoyance before or during a game, especially when you’re using a video game controller.

In comparison, CBD patches will not leave any grease during the application stage because you just have to peel off the non-adhesive layer and then place the patch directly on the area where you want to feel its effects. 

After the skin has absorbed a CBD topical product, the strength of its effects will be gone within a few hours. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, you would have to reapply the product repeatedly within the same day.

Just like CBD capsules or edibles, you can have the peace of mind that you’re getting the proper dosage with a CBD patch. Each unit contains and releases a certain amount of cannabidiol within the specified effectivity period.

Through a CBD patch, you won’t have to carry around a bottle or jar of CBD topicals with you to get relief from pain or anxiety. Moreover, CBD patches will likely not attract unwanted attention because they look similar to generic types of skin patches.

For these reasons, we recommend CBD patches to individuals who need a no-muss-or-fuss approach to enjoy the therapeutic effects of cannabidiol. By choosing this type of product over other topicals, you can better focus on winning the game rather than worrying about the CBD dosage or timing.   

The objective studies on CBD are in the early stages, but the research findings so far sound promising. The positive feedback from actual CBD users supports these findings, too.

Some of these CBD benefits may boost your gaming performance and endurance. For example:

As discussed earlier, several gamers suffer from chronic or acute pain due to various factors. Many existing studies on CBD have touched on its ability to provide pain relief in two different ways.

First, when cannabinoids interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), they can help block the pain signals from reaching the brain. As a result, feelings of pain will be significantly reduced. This even applies to conditions such as nerve pain, that are typically harder to treat with generic analgesics.

Second, some of the painful conditions that gamers experience are caused by inflammations. CBD has exhibited great potential as a natural anti-inflammatory.

While wellness brands have developed various CBD products specifically for pain, we recommend choosing CBD patches. When it come to a better gaming experience, they can be used for long-lasting, fast-acting, and localized pain relief.

Video games, especially when played in a competitive setting, can be pretty nerve-wracking. You need to consider several variables simultaneously to make quick decisions and stay ahead of your opponent. Even before the game has begun, gaming may cause you to overthink, thus leading you to doubt your skills and strategies.

Since such habits can be hard to shake off, you may lessen the impact of stress and anxiety by using CBD patches. Using it before a game may help boost your concentration level during the game. On the other hand, CBD has natural calming effects, so we suggest keeping them on after your game has ended. 

A significant fraction of CBD products has been developed as potent alternatives to traditional sleep aids. Several CBD patches contain melatonin and other known sleep-inducing botanicals since its gradual release of cannabidiol to our system makes it ideal for regulating our sleeping patterns.

We believe that the best sleep aids don’t just make you fall asleep in a matter of a few minutes. Instead, it should help you adapt and sustain a sleep-wake cycle aligned with our natural body clocks.

Why is this important for gamers, though?

Excessive sleep deprivation has been linked to poorer gaming performance because of the following outcomes:

• Drowsiness during waking hours
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Slower mental capacity
• Inability to concentrate

Playing video games itself has been identified as one of the factors that disrupt our sleeping patterns. Therefore, using a CBD patch as a sleep aid may be the key to embracing a balanced lifestyle and improving your gaming performance.

If you’re interested in trying CBD patches as a solution to some of your health and wellness-related gaming issues, keep in mind the following reminders:

While CBD has been declared by the WHO (World Health Organization) as safe to use, we encourage everyone to consult a healthcare professional before trying any CBD product. By doing so, you would know if any of the medications you’re taking might conflict with CBD.

Though CBD can be used without putting yourself at serious risk, there’s still a chance that you will develop some mild side effects after using it. Some of the most common examples include:

• Changes in the appetite
• Drowsiness
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Nausea

Observe how your day-to-day life or gaming performance will be affected by these side effects. If things start getting out of hand, you might have to alter your dosage or stop taking CBD altogether.

As we have said, CBD does not cause harm on its own. However, contaminants introduced during the manufacturing process might put you at risk of becoming ill.

To prevent this from happening to you, evaluate carefully the brand of the CBD patch that you wish to purchase. Check if the manufacturer has provided an updated batch test result indicating the potency and purity of the CBD patch. An independent and reputable lab should have done the product testing to remove any doubts about the results.

CBD patches work best when used directly on areas of the body that aren’t irregularly shaped or near angular points. It should also be as close as possible to the body parts that need pain relief.

Because of these conditions, a lot of CBD patch users apply the product on the following:

• Back of the neck
• Shoulders
• Upper arm
• The inner part of the wrists
• Lower back
• Lower thigh

Much of the pain points of gamers can be found on the neck, shoulders, back, and limbs. Given the optimal application areas for CBD patches, we believe that this transdermal product can truly work as promised.

Video games have gotten a bad rep for all sorts of reasons. However, when done in moderation and with a sense of purpose, it can be a valuable skill that could lead to a lucrative and rewarding career.

If you have picked this path, you will face various problems that could drag down your performance. Whether it’s inflammation, inability to concentrate, or sleep deprivation, CBD could be the ideal companion for you to take along the way.

Due to its potency, speed, and portability, we recommend gamers try CBD patches out of all the available cannabis-derived products in the market. Just keep in mind our tips on finding and using this transdermal product to reap the therapeutic benefits of CBD.

In case you want to learn more about CBD and other cannabis-derived substances that could improve your gaming performance and experience, check out our blog posts and reviews here at TheCBDGuru.org.

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