{"id":16611,"date":"2021-01-21T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T15:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/?p=16611"},"modified":"2023-11-02T17:31:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:31:58","slug":"a-ufc-vai-investigar-a-psilocibina-para-os-lutadores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/blog\/ufc-to-research-psilocybin-for-fighters\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Para Pesquisar Psilocibina Para Lutadores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UFC president Dana White<\/strong> told MMA Junkie on Wednesday about plans to jump into the psychedelic foray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re now interested (about) this thing just came out on \u2018Real Sports\u2019 about psychedelics, and we\u2019ve actually reached out to the Johns Hopkins guys, and we\u2019re diving into that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dana
UFC\u2019s Dana White is *this* close to trying psilocybin for MMA fighters. (Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This comes after the UFC donated an extra $1 million to help fund a brain study on professional athletes, at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Scientists there are looking at repetitive head trauma<\/strong> \u2014 and its causes \u2014 in a 10-year study of more than 800 athletes, from mixed martial arts to competitive bull-riding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Fresh New Study<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We know microdosing can enhance athletic performance<\/a><\/strong> during a match. But what about after the show, when the physical consequences (such as head trauma via contact sports like American football)<\/em> have to be dealt with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to UFC senior vice president of health and performance Jeff Novitzky<\/strong>, they want to fund a fresh new study on athletes\u2019 brain health to fix trauma, but \u2014 get this \u2014 using shrooms.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time it\u2019ll be with Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, <\/strong>practically the US team captain for solid evidence on psilocybin and LSD:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur research has demonstrated therapeutic effects in people who suffer a range of challenging conditions, including addiction (smoking, alcohol, other drugs of abuse), existential distress caused by life-threatening disease, and treatment-resistant depression.\u201d <\/em>(from Johns Hopkins website)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novitsky had spoken about psychedelics with athletes who swore by their benefits. Ayahuasca<\/strong>, he says, was \u201cextremely helpful\u201d for those struggling with addiction. Now, the UFC can\u2019t wait to be a pioneer in the current psychedelic wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDana said, \u2018Hey, find out what this is about.\u2019 To see if it does help with some traumatic brain injury, addiction, mental-health problems. We want to be on board and we want to be first.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not Today, But Very Soon<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As for the exact time frame<\/strong> of when this study might begin for their athletes, Novitsky told ESPN that it\u2019s still not set in stone. But the UFC definitely <\/em>wants to try it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to do it the right way<\/em>… to get all the government approvals if we\u2019re going to do something. We want to figure out how we\u2019re going to recruit fighters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s not something that happens overnight. But Dana has basically instructed me: Hey, I want this looked into. Bring me some potential avenues we can be involved [in].\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of January 2021, in an impressive show of out-of-touch-ness, the US government still <\/strong>classifies psilocybin and other psychedelics as Schedule I drugs<\/strong>, claiming \u201cno medical use\u201d<\/em> and a \u201chigh potential for abuse\u201d<\/em> .\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, when big universities such as Johns Hopkins prove the benefits of an \u201cillicit\u201d drug, there\u2019s a much higher<\/em> chance of it getting decriminalized in a US state. Just ask Oregon, for example<\/a><\/strong>. Will it be the same for the sports world, though?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PTSD In The Sports World<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"boxer<\/a>
Not all bruises are visible. Veteran fighters often hide mental health issues such as PTSD, depression, and addiction, because of stigma. (Photo courtesy: Pixabay)<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This interest didn\u2019t just come out of thin air. In 2019, former UFC flyweight contender Ian McCall<\/strong> began to research the benefits of psilocybin for athletes. McCall even chimed in with a study at Johns Hopkins, and eventually talked about the wonders of psilocybin with the UFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As revealed by McCall on ESPN last year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you go into a cage, when you go into a ring and you fight and even football, you\u2019re giving and receiving [PTSD] and no one wants to talk about it, but that\u2019s what\u2019s happening.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour trauma is stored in your tissue, so you\u2019re actually giving and receiving PTSD while you\u2019re in there, and that\u2019s a big reason why I work in psychedelics, to try and fix those exact things.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to take care of these athletes a little better, just like we need to do with vets.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is, of course, referring to veteran fighters<\/strong>, whose battles in the arena exact a toll on both body and mind. Sadly, prize fighters often keep issues such as memory loss, addiction, depression and PTSD in private, to avoid \u201cbreaking the illusion\u201d<\/em> with the fanbase. Coz they\u2019re supposed to be indestructible heroes, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ian
Psilocybin for the WIN. Ian McCall shares how psilocybin helped treat his PTSD and addiction. (Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)\u00a0<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

McCall once told Forbes in a phone call:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a lot of brain damage, a lot of trauma that had happened to me. I was so broken, and it got to the point where I wanted to kill myself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fighter\u2019s Disease <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Similar to other contact sports such as boxing, wrestling, or football, a UFC match can result in a bloody nose, several bruises (if you\u2019re lucky)<\/em>, a concussion<\/strong>, or a heady mixture of the three.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But veteran fighters often suffer from something worse\u2014a deadly disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy<\/a><\/strong>, or CTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CTE is a degenerative brain disease that only occurs in athletes who play American football (like the NFL)<\/em> or in MMA fighters (like the UFC)<\/em>. It\u2019s a result of repetitive brain trauma<\/strong>, where one severely hits their head on a hard surface over a long period of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is the case with Spencer Fisher<\/strong>, a former UFC fighter who helped popularize MMA in its early days. He was recently declared \u201cpermanently disabled and unable to work\u201d<\/em> due to lesions in his brain<\/strong>, according to an interview with MMA Fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my biggest fear is getting put in a home, and not knowing the difference between someone coming to see me and not. I know it\u2019s a reality that eventually, it\u2019s going to come for me. I just don\u2019t know when.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy kids, I\u2019ve had instances where I couldn\u2019t think of their names on the spot. My balance is shot. I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday. Last week is a complete blur.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damage Control <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fisher now depends on medications like Memantine and Cariprazine to help him fight CTE for another day. But could this heartbreaking reality have been avoided? The UFC \u2014 with their double whammy of brain trauma researches<\/strong> at Lou Ruvo and Johns Hopkins \u2014 sure hopes to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not the first and he\u2019s definitely not gonna be the last. This is a contact sport. Anyone [who] has ever done this [when they were] younger – myself included – is dealing with brain issues,\u201d <\/em>White said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the gig.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, the UFC\u2019s part in the brain health study (and the new psilocybin-based research with John Hopkins)<\/em> ends up helping fighters with brain issues, <\/strong>both physical & psychological, for good.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be a bit too late for MMA\u2019s first champions\u2026 but with the help of psychedelics, the current ones may just keep on fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So once again psilocybin is stepping into a new arena \u2014 can it win again?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nas \u00faltimas not\u00edcias sobre psicad\u00e9licos, a popular UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) est\u00e1 a estudar o potencial da psilocibina (o composto psicad\u00e9lico extra\u00eddo dos cogumelos m\u00e1gicos) para melhorar a sa\u00fade cerebral dos lutadores.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-16611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychedelic-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159795,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions\/159795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16611"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=16611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}