The Use of Steroids in Athletics and its Effects on Athletes According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, an athlete is defined as “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.” Athletes train and practice year-round to prepare for the competition and challenges. At times during the preparation, injuries are sustained and fatigue is endured. To rid themselves of these obstacles, athletes take performance-enhancing drugs, which are also known as steroids. In the United States, the use of steroids is illegal without a prescription. When it comes to punishing athletes for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, depending on what sport and/or what league you are playing in, the penalty is dramatically different. For example, if you are found using steroids during the winter or summer Olympics, you automatically receive a two-year suspension for a positive test (Bodley 1). If you are caught a second time using performance-enhancing stimulants, you receive a lifetime ban from the Olympics (Bodley 1). In comparison, the National Hockey League does not have any drug testing or punishment at all for steroid use. Steroids promote muscle growth and the development of male sexual characteristics (National Drug Treatment Center). Consequently, steroids are often abused by athletes to enhance athletic performance and to improve physical appearance (National Drug Treatment Center). Steroids are available in many ways including tablets, liquid, gel, and cream form (National Drug Treatment Center). Charles Yesalis, a steroids expert, believes these drugs can affect you for a long time. "They (steroids) can assist you a decade or more after you last used them. They can take you to a place you neither have the time nor the ability to get to yourself, and if you continue with the right exercise and diet, you don't go back to zero" (Brennan). What the public does not see is the long term deleterious side effects. Some of these include cardiovascular deterioration, liver and kidney problems, sterility, mood swings, depression, and impotence. The side effects range from reversible to irreversible and vary in their severity. Because steroid use has not been prominent in sports for a significant number of years, the public has not been exposed to the ravages of long term use. Consequently, the typic... ... middle of paper ... ...xistence due to the money they earn, the notoriety they receive, and their working conditions. The public already perceives them as overpaid, overindulged, and under worked. Now the players have the added stigma of being perceived as insolent lawbreakers. The irreparable harm they have caused themselves and their sport will not soon be forgotten by the average fan. Most professional athletes have an easy life, but the least they can do is keep an even playing field when providing entertainment for the general public. Steroids cause profound damage to the body long term, significantly outweighing the short term benefits need to be eliminated from sports. Works Cited “Baseball's timeline of denial.” Arizona Republic. 16 Mar. 2005. Bodley, Hal. (1) “Baseball officials announce tougher steroids policy.” USA Today. 13 Jan. 2005. Bodley, Hal. (2) “MLB to change steroid player-suspension language.” USA Today. 21 Mar. 2005 Brennan, Christine. “Bonds' feats raise red flags.” USA Today. 9 Dec. 2004. “Congressman floats idea of all-sports test plan.” Associated Press. 10 Mar. 2005. Jenkins, Chris. “Players admit steroids changed baseball.” USA Today. 16 Mar. 2005.
One way steroids affect players is the effect on the mind and mental health of users. When baseball players take steroids, they put their bodies at risk. The risks include psychiatric symptoms such as bipolar disorder (Mitchell 55). Studies have shown that if baseball players get involved with steroids, there is strong chance they will experience symptoms like bipolar disorder or severe depression. Steroids also affect the cardiovascular system. They can cause heart attacks and increased or decreased cholesterol levels, and also cause the heart to become enlarged (Mitchell 55). The cardiovascular system faces tragic effects when people decide to use steroids. The liver is affected by steroids also, as the liver can become impaired, become cancerous, and thus cause skin to yellow (Mitchell 55). The f...
The MLB arguably has conveyed a series of mixed messages with regard to its players and their use of steroids. On the one hand, the League apparently cooperates with lawmakers on the issue of regulating drug use among its players; on the other, some of the best athletes in the MLB are suspected of drug use and yet continue to be marketed and revered. Examples of drugs used by MLB stars have included: Anavar, Andriol, Clomid, Depo-Testosterone, Insulin, Stanozolol, and Testosterone1. These drugs are steroids, typically prescribed by medical professionals to patients fighting specific disorders (such as low testosterone or infertility) or provide relief for immense pain or other severe symptoms; they are used “off-label” by athletes for increa...
There are many types of steroids abused by athletes in order to increase their muscle mass and strength. Though steroids have a negative reputation, there are some that can be beneficial to athletes and certain patients. There are types of steroids called corticosteroids that have more medical uses to them and another type called anabolic-androgenic steroids that have a more limited medical use. Anabolic androgenic drugs are usually the steroids that are being abused by athletes (Bigelow, par.10). The use of steroids goes back to the end of World War II, around the 1940’s.
You’ve all seen them, the enormously large muscle-heads at the gym, the participates of the World’s Strongest Man Competition, the amazing offensive tackles, and the lightning fast runners. They were all unnaturally strong, and looked like gods. You tend to obsess over how beautiful their bodies are, how strong they are, or how fast they can run. All you can think about is reaching that level of athletic excellence, and nothing will hold you back. At times like these some people tend to take the quick fit to get closer to their idols, in the form of steroids. But what individuals tend not see is the horrible side effects that accompany the use of these anabolic steroids. These powerful drugs have both positive and negative results from their use. Along with increased strength and size, users of steroids suffer from a wide range of sicknesses such as cancer, shrinkage of testicles, bad acne, hair loss, damage organs, intense mood swings, and impotence.
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.
There are many controversies today on what should be allowed in sports. Many people have many different opinions about those controversies. The most important controversy would be whether or not steroids should be allowed in the sporting world. All sports have included tests that are mandatory for all players to participate in randomly whenever they are approached. The side effects of performance enhancing drugs are very serious and should never be ignored. As long as with the boost in performance that players experience when they use these medications also. The sport would never be the same and they would have to deal with a significant number of extra problems with the players and their health. Steroids make people perform way past human expectations, suffer from severe health problems that come from Side effects, and the sport will permanently be effected and therefore should not be allowed to be used.
Steroids are simply a derivative of the naturally occurring male anabolic hormone testosterone (“Anabolic“). Testosterone naturally triggers the maturing of the male reproductive system in puberty, which includes growth of body hair and the deepening of the voice. The hormone helps the body retain proteins, which aids in the development of muscles (“Anabolic“). "Although there are many types of steroids with varying degrees of anabolic and androgenic properties, it's the anabolic property of steroids that lures athletes," says Dr. Wadler. "They take them to primarily increase muscle mass and strength"(“Anabolic”). Basically, a steroid just makes the muscles grow bigger faster than conventional training does.
We all have seen a bodybuilders physic, whether it was in a magazine, the media, or in the gym. As we despise their freakish look we still wish that we had a body like them. But the reason we don’t look like that is because we know that the long term effects of steroids in will damage our bodies. Steroids have been a common use throughout human history since 1889. The fact that it’s illegal doesn’t seem to bother many users. Generations today are more reliant on this drug for various reasons, without realizing the consequences and long term effects that can result. Steroids are a way of cheating to reach your goals. Steroids are addictive, and over a short period of time they destroy the liver as well as the kidneys, affect personalities, and cause hormonal imbalances. Steroids present a higher risk than the person may understand due to their wide spread availability, and pressures to look perfect.
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.
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).
My issue over the concern of athletes have been struggling with the usage of steroids has widely spread among athletes and others; not only do steroids give an athlete a hard times but it’s also an unfair advantage to the other athletes and what they’ve accomplish. “Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage during the session” (“Steroids in Sports”,2005). Now a days steroids are everywhere as an athlete. Many males and female young athletes preferably take it because they want to look and feel good when it comes to impressing someone and trying to become someone they look forward too. Young teens and adults try to cheat themselves in the career of their dreams. When it comes to a sport, teen athletes are not aware of what type of consequences may happen to them at the time. It may come to the time where it’s too late to take care of. In other cases, some athletes may like feeling the aggressive they get when they take drugs such as steroids. Athletes shouldn’t take steroids as the harmful health effects of the anabolic steroid in population wise. Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids and yet the desired effects are overwhelming that people tend to forget about the results and consequences that may effect. Athletes on steroids believe taking steroids will enhance their performance, strength, and size without having to put necessary work. These benefits, however, are associated with much short-term and long term risk.
Steroids have been used by many athletes. They take them because they think that it will improve their playing performance. They also feel that it builds lean muscle mass and reduces fat. Some athletes sometimes take two or more steroids at a time. They believe that taking two different drugs will give them double the strength and muscle mass than just one.
Many arguments have been made for legalization of steroids in sports. One of these arguments is that even with rules making steroids illegal, athletes will not stop trying to get the advantage. Athletes may play their respective sport for the love of the game, but all athletes understand
Steroids can seem harmless to the uninformed user but they actually have harmful side effects. According to the article “News examines relationship between steroids and heart-related deaths,” published by New York Daily News, “The study (presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2006) shows that deaths jumped from 476 from in 1980-1992 to 987 from in 1993-2005. Overall, 1,463 young athletes died between 1980 and 2005”(NY Daily News). This is a terrifying statistic and will only continue to rise.
Steroids became an option to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950’s. But this use of steroids among athletes only became widely apparent when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the one hundred-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics (Francis, 45). Now a skinny fifteen-year-old can just walk down to the local gym and find people who either sell or know how to get in contact with those who sell the drug that will make him envious of his friends. Steroids are an attractive drug. While steroids seem harmless to the unaware user, they can have a risky effect. Most of the time whether the users are new or experienced, they do not know the dangerous consequences steroids can have on their bodies and their minds. Though steroids cause a relatively insignificant number of deaths in our society, the banning of steroids is justified because steroids have a lot of side effects not known to the uninformed user.