Psychedelics and sport might not be two words you would immediately think of putting together, but what if there’s some potential for these substances to subtly assist the way in which athletes train, perform, and recover?
Aaron Rodgers, an American professional football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has spoken publicly about his use of psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms as well as ayahuasca on a trip to Peru in 2020 to manage his mental health. While he claims to have not experienced any depression, he mentioned that ayahuasca helped him feel “self-love”, and others have since noticed how he is generally happier in life. This brings up an interesting point of whether or not we need to be clinically depressed in order to benefit from psychedelic plants and fungi, or if everyone could actually do with just having a bit more self-love in their lives?
I imagine the pressure of being a professional athlete (especially in a game like American football which comes with a huge physical toll on the body) can affect even those with the most optimal mental health, and there’s certainly an argument to be made for utilising the benefits of psychedelics to alleviate some of this pressure, or potentially find other avenues of meaning in life besides focusing so much on becoming an athlete at these levels.
Former MMA competitor and UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans is another athlete who has found some benefit from consuming mushrooms, even leading him to create his own functional mushroom brand after realising the potential of the wider fungal kingdom. Rashad retired from the UFC in 2018 after a string of losses, and despite winning the Light Heavyweight title in 2008, the psychological impact of retiring had a big effect on his mental well-being. Discovering how psilocybin mushrooms could benefit his psychological health has led him down the path of re-establishing his relationship with his own healing, where he didn’t want to experience the issues of a 20+ year career potentially catching up with him. Where people have had their identity so wrapped up in a focused career, it can obviously be hard to understand what or who you are after that all ends, and psychedelics might provide the opportunity to reframe your identity and walk a path that might serve your body better in the long run.
We might immediately think of how psychedelics might potentially benefit us in a physical way when it comes to sport, but actually if we start with our minds, then we might be able to re-establish a healthier relationship with our physical environment, and possibly have more awareness of where our limitations are. The drive that some of these professional athletes have is quite astounding, especially when you consider the tiny percentage of people in places such as the USA who actually break into the professional sphere. The competitive nature of being involved in the world of sports has a huge impact on the mental and physical well-being of athletes, especially where there can be a lot of pressure from a young age to perform at a competitive level on a regular basis.
There is also a potential physical benefit from consuming psychedelics when it comes to sport, with some research suggesting they can act as potent anti-inflammatories, which may assist with injury recovery. Many people with long-term health conditions, often characterised by chronic inflammation or pain, have found benefits from consuming psychedelics to ease their physical symptoms, as well as providing them with the psychological benefit of substances such as psilocybin mushrooms or LSD.
I’m sure this openness surrounding the use of psychedelics among American athletes is partly down to the change in laws and attitudes, but there might be many incidences in other countries where athletes need to be more secretive about their consumption. The complexities over whether psychedelics give you a competitive edge also bring in the ethical question of whether athletes should even be allowed to consume psychedelics, not to mention the expectations of certain people in the public eye to follow a certain lifestyle.
What some might perceive to be a competitive edge could be the result of the brain breaking out of certain patterns that might not be beneficial, and allowing the possibility for new pathways to be created, where there could be more neuroplasticity and general brain connectivity. This newfound connectivity might help to facilitate a state of flow where everything just feels like it’s working as it should.
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Good read, Interesting and mind expanding, thanks.
great article, I focussed a lot on martial arts on mine in french here at CC, I will soon write a full article on kilindi
well played oli.