While working out can be fun and energizing, the most important part of the routine is often the most neglected—recovery.
If you’ve ever worked out hard doing athletic activities such as sprints, weight-lifting, HIIT, Tabata, intense yoga, or rowing, you’ve probably experienced muscle soreness the next day. You may have even experienced delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), where you don’t feel sore until a day or two after your workout.
Working out at a high intensity places a large demand on your body. It increases your stress hormones (cortisol), creates microtears in your muscles that need to be repaired, and can even reduce your sleep quality.
Fortunately, taking kava after a hard workout can help your body recover, even if you’ve been overtraining.
Can Kava Help Promote Muscle Recovery?
If you’ve ever woken up feeling stiff and tired after a workout, it’s because your body hasn’t finished the process of repairing the microtears by building muscle.
Muscle fibers can only repair when they’re at rest. By taking kava after a workout, you may benefit from its relaxing properties. It could make it easier for you to stretch, sit down, and relax after a good workout.
Better Sleep, Better Muscle Growth
Sleep is the most important part of muscle growth. It’s during sleep that your body produces the hormones necessary to build muscle.
Both non-REM sleep and REM sleep play a role in muscle repair. When you get bad sleep due to tension, tirelessness, or soreness, you may not get much REM or NREM sleep. This can leave you tired when you wake up, and your body will take longer to recover than if you had good sleep.
Kava contains kavalactones that may assist with relaxing, making it easier to fall asleep and experience both kinds of sleep.
Kava Reduces Discomfort
Kava Helps Reduce and Manage Occasional Stress Better
Even though exercise is good for you, overtraining can give you a surplus of cortisol, which can lead to a spike in stress. Kava is an adaptogen—a group of herbs that may help your body decrease occasional stress and manage it better.
Consuming a kava tonic after a workout may lower the spike in cortisol present in your body. This would help you digest your food better and get more restful sleep.
How To Take Kava After a Workout
After you finish exercising, take some time to stretch, get your heart rate down, and be sure to hydrate. Kava is a diuretic, so it’s important to drink plenty of water before and while drinking kava.
A good way to stay hydrated while consuming a lot of water is to take electrolyte powder with your water to replenish those lost from sweat.
Make Kava a Part of Your Fitness Routine
Our feel-free tonic contains kava to promote well-being, relaxation, and recovery. The better you sleep, the more ready you’ll be for a workout the next day, or a walk in the sunshine, or a trip to the skatepark. Want to learn more about the benefits of kava supplements? Read more about kava and its benefits today.
At Botanic Tonics, we believe that providing quality kava products can help you have fun, stay fit, and feel free.
