CBD has become almost impossible to avoid in the wellness world.
You’ll find it in products marketed for sleep, stress, soreness, recovery, and just about everything in between. For active adults, including pickleball players looking to feel better between games, those claims can make CBD sound either like a miracle solution or another wellness trend that promises too much.
Dr. Chris Emerson thinks the truth is more interesting than either extreme.
Emerson is the founder, CEO, and chief scientist of LEVEL, a science-driven cannabinoid company he founded in 2015. With a PhD in small molecule chemistry and research experience at Stanford, his approach starts with a different question: What happens when you stop focusing on how much of one cannabinoid is in a product and start focusing on what you want that product to do?
From Chemistry to Cannabinoid Science
Emerson says he has always been interested in understanding how things work, even if the traditional path through education didn’t come naturally to him.
That curiosity eventually led him to earn his PhD and study the intersection of chemistry and biology. His interest in cannabinoids took shape after he left Stanford and spent time on a medical cannabis farm on California’s Mendocino Coast.
There, he saw a disconnect. Cannabis contains a wide range of biologically active compounds, yet much of the industry was centered on a single one: THC.
“When I founded LEVEL in 2015, the cannabis industry was overwhelmingly focused on THC potency and getting people high,” Emerson said. “To me, that ignored the plant’s real potential.”
Instead of developing products around potency alone, LEVEL would formulate specific cannabinoids in defined amounts and ratios with particular outcomes in mind.
So, What Exactly Is CBD?
CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the many naturally occurring cannabinoids produced by the cannabis plant. Unlike THC, CBD is non-intoxicating.
Emerson explains its role through the body’s endocannabinoid system, or ECS, a regulatory network involved in several physiological processes. He likes to think of the ECS as the body’s “volume control.”
Rather than just switching a process on or off, CBD interacts with this larger regulatory system. That helps explain why using cannabinoids isn’t as simple as choosing a particular amount and expecting one universal result.
That also addresses one of the most persistent questions surrounding CBD: No, CBD itself doesn’t produce the high associated with THC.
THC directly activates CB1 receptors in the brain, while CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system differently.
“CBD is considered non-intoxicating and won’t impair cognition in the way THC can,” Emerson said.
CBD Isn’t a Cure-All, and More Isn’t Always Better
Emerson sees two extremes surrounding CBD: people who treat it as a cure-all and people who dismiss it entirely.
“The reality is much more nuanced,” he said. “CBD isn’t a miracle molecule, nor is it a placebo.”
Consumers also tend to focus on the number of milligrams listed on a package, assuming more CBD means a more effective product.
But cannabinoid dosing isn’t necessarily that straightforward.
“Taking twice as much doesn’t necessarily produce twice the effect,” Emerson said.
Dose, timing, formulation, individual biology, and the desired outcome can all influence the experience. That’s one reason he believes consistency is so important: if the amount or formulation changes every time, it becomes much harder to figure out what actually works for you.
What Does the Research Say About CBD for Recovery?
This is where the conversation becomes especially relevant to pickleball players and other active adults.
Soreness, recovery, stress, and sleep can all influence how you feel when you step back onto the court. CBD is increasingly marketed as a solution for all four.
Emerson is more cautious.
“The honest answer is that the directional signal is encouraging, but anyone claiming certainty at this stage is overstating the evidence,” he said.
Small human studies have reported potential benefits related to exercise recovery, including changes in soreness and certain muscle-damage markers, while other controlled trials have found little or no effect.
Research surrounding stress and anxiety may be somewhat stronger, but results still vary. Sleep research is mixed as well, with some findings suggesting improvements in subjective measures without consistently showing improvements in sleep duration or architecture.
That doesn’t mean the science is settled. In other words, there is a reason to keep studying CBD.
“Sleep, nutrition, training load, and stress management remain the foundation,” Emerson said. “CBD should be viewed as one component of a broader recovery strategy.”
How Can You Tell if a CBD Product Is High Quality?
With so many CBD products available, Emerson recommends evaluating them much like you would another supplement.
First, look for third-party testing that verifies cannabinoid content and checks for contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, and residual solvents.
Then look beyond the total milligrams. A company should be able to explain what’s in the formulation and why it’s there while delivering a consistent dose and composition from batch to batch.
“A well-designed product isn’t defined by having the highest potency but by producing a consistent, repeatable experience consumers can rely on,” Emerson said.
Why LEVEL Built CBD Around Precision
That philosophy is behind LEVEL’s CBD Protab, which contains 25 mg of CBD in a swallowable tablet designed to provide a consistent dose. Each Protab is scored and can be split in half for a smaller amount.
For Emerson, the tablet format wasn’t about creating another way to take CBD.
“We chose a tablet because it offers something that’s often missing in the cannabinoid space: precision and consistency,” he said.
LEVEL applies the same outcome-first philosophy across its formulations. Instead of starting with how much CBD or THC should go into a product, Emerson says his team identifies the outcome they’re trying to support and works backward, considering the cannabinoids, ratios, dosage, and delivery method involved.
Moving the CBD Conversation Beyond the Hype
Emerson doesn’t expect consumers to become cannabinoid scientists. But he does want them to ask better questions.
What am I taking? How much am I taking? Has it been tested? Why was it formulated this way? What does the research support?
“We’re only beginning to understand how they work individually and together,” Emerson said of the plant’s many cannabinoids. “Good science is about asking better questions, not making bigger claims.”
For pickleball players considering CBD for recovery, sleep, stress, or general wellness, that may be the most useful takeaway.
There is promising science worth paying attention to, but there are also plenty of unanswered questions. And in a category full of big promises, understanding that difference is a pretty good place to start.
LEVEL is an advertising partner of Empower Pickleball.
