The Epidemic of Steroid Abuse in America
We as a people are preoccupied with the notion of greatness. Our role models are athletes, actors and actresses, and other figures in the public eye. Many of us often desire to be better off than our current state; to look better, to be in better shape, etc… We compete with each other for jobs, for mates, for grades, for parking spots, and in sporting activities. This competitive nature is a way of life, especially in sporting activities, often learned as a child and built upon throughout adulthood. But where do you draw the line? At what point do the “costs” of winning or being “better” outweigh the benefits? Maybe it’s too much when you start putting your own health in serious jeopardy just to look better or run faster.
The use of steroids, other than for medical purposes, has extremely negative effects on one’s health. Nonetheless the use of steroids, to enhance athletic performance and increase muscle mass, is on the rise. There needs to be mandatory steroid testing in all professional, and where applicable, amateur sports. Steroid testing is a good as start as any to help curb steroid abuse.
Anabolic-Androgenic steroids, often solely called anabolic steroids, are: “chemicals that act like hormones--substances normally in your body that regulate bodily functions” (Kowalski 1). They are synthetic substances, meaning man-made, which have two functions: the anabolic effect which causes an increase in the growth of muscle mass and the androgenic effect which causes, or increases, the development of male sexual characteristics. It’s the anobolic effect that most steroid users, or abusers, are after.
Steroid abusers take steroids for a couple of different reasons....
... middle of paper ...
...pac.library.csupomona.edu/>.
Sherman, William. “Growing Nightmare of Steroid Abuse: Athletes’ Cocktail Big in Nation’sGyms.” Daily News (New York). 28 July 2002, Sports Final ed.: p. 4. Lexis Nexis 4 Nov. 2002. <http://0-www.Lexis-nexis.com.opac.library.csupomona.edu/universe>.
United States. Consumer Affairs, Tourism and Foreign Commerce Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Hearing. Washington D.C.: Senate
Office Building, 2002. Lexis Nexis 4 Nov. 2002. <http://0-www.Lexis-nexis.com.opac.
library.csupomona.edu/universe>.
Verducci, Tom. “Totally Juiced.” Sports Illustrated. 3 June 2002, V. 26: No. 93. Wilson Web Article Index 4 Nov. 2002. <http://0-hwwilsonweb.com.opac.library.csupomona.edu/>.
Yesalis, Charles E., and Virginia S. Cowart. The Steroids Game. Illinois: Human Kinetics, 1998.
This documentary takes a look at how our school’s lunch programs and government play a role in the spread of obesity across the nation. The film really attempts to drive home the idea that our children are being immorally brainwashed into wanting unhealthy foods. At some points of the film, it appears that the director uses big companies and school lunches as a scapegoat for our nations crisis. It is a valid point that our nation’s children are being
In the world of sports today, anabolic/androgenic steroid use is a vast problem. Since its’ introduction into Russian weightlifting, it has been expanding with no signs of stopping. It has spread into every major sport, with usage by every age and race. The use continues to grow, even with a lengthy list of serious health, legal, and ethical concerns. Because of our society's adoration of muscle, athletes put their athletic goals higher on their priority list than their long-term health. From Hulk Hogan to Arnold Schwarzenegger, our heroes all fit the superhuman mold. The government has tried various laws and programs to cut down on usage, but these programs have had little or no effect. It has become one of the biggest problems in organized sports, yet it does not receive a proportional amount of attention. Steroid use has become an epidemic, and something must be done to stop it.
Steroids are unhealthy for baseball players and they are giving the game of baseball a bad reputation. Since steroids have become such a hot topic in Major League Baseball (MLB) fans have had nothing but bad things to say about the sport and its players. When sports illustrated asked some of its readers to give reaction to the steroid controversy in the MLB here is what baseball fan Howard Langsner from New York had to say 'Horrible, just horrible. We take Olympic medals away from athletes on steroids, but we're supposed to look the other way in MLB because a guy can make the ball go further? Drug testing is commonplace everywhere, and used in other sports, as the article mentioned. Baseball should be no different'. Matt Bookman of San Jose, California writes 'That's it. I'm done as a baseball fan until MLB has a comprehensive drug testing policy. I feel so naive. I really thought that the players had gotten bigger and stronger because they had learned the value of hitting the weight room and staying in shape during the off season. It breaks my heart that I won't be able to give my children the same experience I had growing up -- to go to the ballpark and feel good about your guys and cheer on your team.' The fans reaction speaks for itself but MLB should not sit back and let steroids take over a game that was at one time America?s pastime. In this paper research will be given on what exactly are anabolic steroids and how they can affect your body, testing policies, the effectiveness of steroids on players and major league baseball.
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.
Mohun, Janet and Aziz Khan. Drugs, Steroids, and Sports. New York, NY: F. Watts, 2008.
Schools are meant to give our children a healthy and nurturing environment, and yet so much of the lunches in schools are fattening; does this stop schools from achieving the aforementioned goal? Childhood obesity in the United Sates continues to be a growing problem despite so any new programs to help combat it, and new research is showing how schools may be playing a large role in childhood obesity. School lunches are showing to be the problem, they encourage poor nutrition in our nation’s students, and simple reform is proving to not be enough to stop the rise in obesity rates.
Athletes are often pressured from an early age to be better than the rest. In sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, the need to be “great” is becoming a dominant factor in the world of sports. Regardless of which sport is chosen, the stigma to be great is slowly surpassing the main goal of sportsmanship among team players. With the notion that being great is the key; many athletes, both amateur and professional, are relying on steroids to help bring them to the top of their game. Steroid use can cause damaging effects to the body and preventing this may save the lives and careers of current and future students. This essay is written to explain the problems of steroids in sports and the solutions in which to help deter or stop this problem.
There are many different types of steroids being produced and used everyday in America. Steroids are any synthetic hormones that your body produces naturally such as birth control used by millions around the world and cortisone which reduces the actions of chemicals in the body that cause inflammation, redness, and swelling . Anabolic steroids are the ones that I will be talking about they are made for the male sex hormone called testosterone which tells the body to increase muscle size and strength, it also allows for faster muscle recovery. Anabolic steroids will not automatically make you the next Mr. or Mrs. Universe. Those who use Anabolic steroids usually train there muscle much longer and harder then those who don't. The Anabolic steroids only give them the ability to push there muscles far beyond what they would regularly be able to and recover much faster. This is not without saying that there are no side effects to such an amazing drug. In men steroids can cause shrinkage of the testicles, decrease in sperm count (that can lead to being sterile), impotence, prostate enlargement, Gynecomastia (appearance of female breast on male), and acne which are all reversible when ...
Throughout the history of athletics, athletes have searched for ways to make themselves better, faster, and stronger. Steroid use is one of the most popular choices among these athletes. Steroids are synthetic hormones that produce specific physiological effects on one's body and have been used since the 1930s (Center for Substance Abuse Research). Although the German Scientists who discovered steroids did not intend to use it for body building or to create better athletes, steroid use has developed into a controversial subject concerning the health of users and other moral issues. The use of steroids in athletics is physically and morally wrong because it essentially promotes the deterioration of the health of athletes and unfair competition among these athletes.
As the use of performance enhancing drugs is becoming more popular amongst athletes, many of them do not understand the risks involved in taking these drugs. Many people are looking for a quick way to build muscles, or to get stronger the fastest way possible. Using these performance aids may very well be a quick fix for many athletes, but taking the drugs is unethical and dangerous. Using special drugs to boost an athlete’s performance is degrading to sports and to the athlete, but after they stop using the drugs and lose some strength, you become trapped in the steroid cycle.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
Ramazani, Jahan. Richard Ellmann, Robert O’Clair, ed. The Norton Anthology Of Modern And Contemporary Poetry. Vol 1 Modern Poetry. Third Edition. Norton. 2003.
(This translation is taken from book in English by Darshan Singh Maini called STUDIES IN PUNJABI POETRY)
School lunches are notorious for being unhealthy. Perhaps we are now more aware of this due to First Lady, Michelle Obama’s campaign for healthier eating in the school settings. In 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture released new rules that helped boost the nutritional quality of meals eaten by over 32 million students, whose schools participate in the National School Lunch Program. These rules involve changes encompassing more fruits,vegetables, and whole grains, less fat and sodium, and rational calorie limits. (3) However these rules are only eligible to schools that comply with the National School Lunch Program, in which private schools are not part of. The program in itself is a great step towards reform to healthy school lunches. But as senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, N.J. Anne Gordon said "We need to explore other ways of making change” (2) Gordon later went on to say