Introduction.In high-contact sport athletes, repetitive head trauma might be linked to permanent brain damage. In particular, findings in professional American football players indicate that brain injury is often associated with long-term cognitive slowing. In this context, hemp extracts might have beneficial effects.Methods. Forty-two former professional American football players were recruited (age = 49.6 ± 9.8 years). Before or immediately after the oral administration of a THC-free hemp extract, the following measures were acquired: 1) the median theta/beta ratio and posterior peak alpha frequency (PAF) during resting state; 2) P200 and P300b latencies as well as reaction times (RT) during performance of a Go/NoGo task.Results. After treatment, a smaller median theta/beta ratio (p < .01) was detected. An onset latency reduction was also found for the P200 (p < .01) and P300b (p < .05) measures, which was accompanied by smaller RT variances (p < .05). Finally, a positive correlation between RT measures and P300b latencies was found only after treatment.
Conclusion.The administration of THC-free hemp extracts in former professional high-impact athletes might have beneficial effects on both cognitive performance and emotion regulation. Also, recent technological advances in EEG detection and analysis could play an important role in the management of patients with sportrelated brain injuries.