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Effects of steroids on the human body
Negative effects of anabolic steroids
Effects of steroids on the human body
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Athletes using steroids for a prolonged period of time face damaging and life-threatening side effects. Anabolic steroids are “synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone” (“Anabolic Steroids”). Anabolic means “tissue building” (“Anabolic Steroids”). They have many nicknames like ‘“arnolds, gym candy, pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, and juice”’ (“Anabolic Steroids”). Anabolic steroids are androgenic drugs. This means they “promote masculine characteristics” (“Anabolic Steroids”). Anabolic steroids can be administered two ways, orally or by intramuscular injection. Most abusers use a “combination of oral doses and injections for six to twelve week cycles” (Anderson). They usually take steroids for a “limited period of time to reach a particular goal” (“Anabolic Steroids”). “Stacking” (Anderson) is known as using multiple steroid preparations and increasing dosage over time. Some abusers may take as much as one-hundred times normal therapeutic doses of anabolic steroids (“Anabolic Steroids”). It is said that oral preparations are easier to flush out of your system than injections. This is a real concern. Athletes may be taking steroids, but clearing them from their system before drug testing.
It is a proven fact that anabolic steroids produce a gain in strength and muscle size “beyond that which could be achieved with rigorous training and diet alone” (Anderson). They have been said to be the “perfect performance enhancing drug” (Minnie), but this is nowhere near true. Although, it is acknowledged that steroids do improve muscle mass, they are highly dangerous. They are known as “a potential shortcut” (Minnie) and cheating. Most anabolic steroids are imported from third ...
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... Steroid Abuse. Drug Enforcement Administration, March 2004. Web. 1
April 2014. http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/brochures/steroids/public/.
“Anabolic Steroids and Sports: Winning at Any Cost.” Department of Health. New York State,
2010. Web. 1 April 2014. http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/1210/.
Anderson, Steven J., Bolduc, Stephen P. “Adolescents and Anabolic Steroids: A Subject
Review.” Pediatrics 99.6 (2014): 904. Web.
Devlin, Hannah. “Steroid Use Benefits Athletes for Decades.” Times 28 October 2013: 1. Print.
Minnie, Ken, Coach. “Designer Steroids: Ugly, Dangerous Things.” MasterFile Premier April
2004: 14-17. Print.
Schuler, Lou. “The Juice is Loose.” Men’s Fitness 21.2 (2005): 70-75. Web.
Shafa, Dariush. “Use of Steroids Poses Serious Health Risk for Those Bulking Up.” Messenger-
Inquirer 25 January 2009: Print.
Anabolic steroids have become an epidemic amongst athletes since the 1950's when a Swiss company by the name of Ciba Pharmaceuticals introduced what was to become the most popular anabolic drug for athletes called methandrostenolone. “By this time, the era of the steroid athlete was well underway and world records were being shattered and re-shattered with remarkable regularity.” (Oklobdzija & Weyrauch, 1989, para 3) From then on, there have been many cases throughout professional sports where athletes are reported or caught using anabolic steroids.
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
“Drugs 2004: Steroids: Is Bulking Up Worth the Risk. “ World Book Science Year. 2009.
Aaron Henry was 13 when he started taking steroids. He wanted to gain an edge in football. After four years of using steroids, Henry was 5'9" and weighed 210 pounds. He gained weight and power from taking steroids, but that is not all they gave him. He experienced spells of vomiting, urinating blood, liver and kidney damage, ulceration over three-fourths of his stomach, a mild heart attack, and an aggressive personality (James 18). Henry was only aware of steroids' positive effects. He was unaware about their side effects and health risks. Much of the public, just like Henry, is uninformed or wrongly informed about steroids. The media fails to show the negative aspects of using steroids. Because of this, many people think that steroids only have positive effects, but they fail to realize those using steroids can destroy their body and mind.
Steroids are used daily in America in body building, medicine, and food production. There are three main types of steroids, Corticosteroids, Anabolic steroids, and hormone steroids. Corticosteroids are the kind of steroids doctors prescribe to patients when they are sick or have some kind of medical issue. These steroids reduce overactive immune responses and reduce swelling. Anabolic steroids are used for building muscle. They also contain a lot of testosterone. Testosterone is naturally produced by one's body but too much can cause a vast variety of problems. Hormone steroids are the steroids people put in animals (DeNoon).
In today’s society in athletics, muscle mass and strength seem more important than in years past. It is believed that many athletes use anabolic steroids to increase their muscle mass and also their strength. Anabolic steroids are a group of synthetic hormones that promote the storage of proteins and the growth of tissue, sometimes used by athletes to increase muscle size and strength. Before the mid 1970’s the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) was used mainly by highly trained athletes especially those involved in weight training. Since then other athletes including those involved in recreational sports and non-competitive sports have started using the steroids. Steroids are also being used by many school age children especially those involved in sports in the schools. Everyone wants to be bigger, stronger, and faster and will do almost anything to gain this.
Anabolic steroids are drugs derived from the male hormone testosterone. They promote muscle growth and increase lean body mass. Although anabolic steroids have many approved medical uses, some athletes and others seeking to improve performance and physical appearance abuse them. These nonmedical uses are illegal and carry many health hazards. There are many signs that one can look for in a person who is suspected of using Anabolic Steroids. There is dramatic gain in weight and muscle mass over a short period of time (NIDA September1997). Another is severe acne. Others could be water retention, baldness or hair loss, even in the worst cases severe and sometimes violent mo...
"Anabolic steroids is the familiar name for synthetic substances related to the male sex hormones (e.g., testosterone). They promote the growth of skeletal muscle (anabolic effects) and the development of male sexual characteristics (androgenic effects) in both males and females”(National Institute on Drug Base).First, the benefits of steroids are very obvious to see. The user gains strength, mass, and speed in a short amount of time. Also, the user has a more aggressive attitude, which is good for football players. However, there are more bad side effects than good.
Anabolic steroids are a group of muscle building chemicals, which are synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone. Developed in the 1930’s, they were prescribed to aid in muscle tissue repair by those who had undergone surgery or had degenerative diseases. Now the patients do not only use them but also athletes. Starting in the 1940’s steroids were introduced into sports. Steroids were one of the main reasons that Russia’s 1952 Olympic weightlifting team came out with pile of medals. With these results other nations thought their competitors should have the same advantage, and the use of steroids spread like wildfire.(NIDA pg 2) But now steroids are illegal to use if not prescribed by a physician, and have been banned by nearly all-athletic organizations, both professional and amateur.
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
Anabolic Steroids or simply put, “Steroids”, is a medicine which has become increasingly popular in the last few decades, specifically in the world of professional sports and body building. In a literal term, the word anabolic means building of the body muscle and by using anabolic steroids, the potential user becomes stronger, sharper, larger and tougher than he would normally be. The consequences of these steroids could be much bigger to a human body and the usage of such illegal products could put an individual’s body at great risk (Haupt & Rovere, 1983).
Anabolic steroids are drugs containing, or hormone-like substances, that are used to increase strength and promote muscle growth. They were first developed in the 1930s in Europe to treat undernourished patients and to promote healing after surgery. Competitive weightlifters began using steroids in the 1950s as a way to increase their athletic performance. Use gradually spread throughout the world among athletes in other has been estimated that at least one in 15 male high school seniors in the United States--more than a half-million boys--has used steroids. Some are athletes attempting to increase their strength and size; others are simply youths attempting to speed up their growth to keep pace with their peers. In some countries, anabolic steroids are available over the counter. In the United States, a doctor's prescription is necessary.
Anabolic steroids are commonly stereotyped. Many are convinced it is cheating or very dangerous. Like they say don’t judge a book by its cover, do your own research on it and take your own word for it. Don’t always just go by what people bring it up to be, without your own knowledge. Anabolic steroids are in fact dangerous if not prescribed by a doctor, and illegal. So steroid use isn’t for everybody, unless it is ok’d by a doctor. For those looking just to gain size from steroid use, they got to just learn how to diet. With a clean diet, high protein intake, and a effective workout plan you can increase size and strength drastically. Anabolic steroids are good and bad, they have many positive and negative causes and effects; taken in moderation by a doctor supervision can have great results.
Over one million American seek short cuts to larger muscles and greater endurance with anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Steroids are drugs that act like chemical in the body. Most steroids are transformed into testosterone when they enter the body. Testosterone is a male growth hormone. While user may gain short-term results, they are seriously shortchanging their health (Kalawalski 13-15).
Every year high school, college, and professional athletes try to get just ?a little bigger,??a little stronger,? and to increase the amount of weights they lift by, ?just a few pounds.? To achieve these goals athletes often turn to anabolic steroids to aid them in achieving their goals. Anabolic steroids are a quick, but dangerous way to increase muscle mass, and they can carry many risks including some life threatening side affects. Years after taking steroids athletes can live to have serious heart problems, sterility, or possibly not even live, all because of foolish decisions they made in the past. These potentially fatal drugs are not widely known by young athletes at all, because they don?t know about the risks that can go along with them. In school, every student is taught about marijuana, cocaine,heroin, sex, liquor, and all those other health risks, but they?re never taught about ?roids? or ?juice.? (slang words for steroids) That should be changed, because it is known that student athletes often use steroids, not knowing the risks. Many times they take the risk because they hear about professional athletes taking steroids. But, despite their widespread use in sports, steroids can have more negative than positive effects on athletes of all types. Steroids are chemical substances that can be made naturally by the body or produced synthetically. There are many different types of steroids that are used for different things other than just athletes enhancing muscles. For example, there are types of steroids that can be used by women as birth control pills, and other types that are used for menopause treatment. The abuse of steroids is almost always found to be in the case of athletes, and that is the focus of this paper. ?All anabolic steroids are synthetic compounds whose molecular structure is similar to that of the natural male sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone affects development of the male body in two important ways: it has an anabolic effect - increases growth, especially of muscular and skeletal tissue - And an androgenic effect - increased development of male sexual characteristics. Anabolic steroids are constructed stythetically in such a way that they maximize the anabolic effect of testosterone while minimizing the androgenic effect.? The way that steroids work can easily be interpreted by a foo...