Negative Effects Of Drugs In Sports

In today’s society sports are extremely popular and followed by a countless number of fans. The level of competition has risen with the followers making many sports more aggressive. As a result athletes have taken to the use of performance enhancing drugs. The effect of these drugs have exponentially blown up the level of competition in sports. Some might say these drugs increase the performance quality of sports. Essentially making the sport more fun to watch because the playing field skill is at an extremely high competition level. However, performance enhancing drugs can pose huge health risk to athletes at the professional and recreational level, and professional athletes can influence children or other adults alike into thinking it is okay to use these drugs.

Drugs in sports, also known as doping, is very common around the world. The usage of drugs in sport goes way back, about all the way back to where the concept of sports was invented, during the 1960’s. Doping is a practice that has been going on since the time of "ancient Greek athletes, who supposedly ate herbs, sesame seeds, dried figs, and mushrooms for this purpose" (Hoberman, 1992, 104).In ancient times, when the fittest of a nation were selected as athletes or combatants, they were fed diets and given treatments considered beneficial. For instance, Scandinavian mythology says Berserkers could drink a mixture called "butotens", to greatly increase their physical power at the risk of insanity. One theory is that the mixture was prepared from the Amanita muscaria mushroom, though this has been disputed. The German missionary and doctor Albert Schweitzer wrote of Gabon in the early 19th century: "The people of the country can, having eaten certain leaves or roots, toil vigorously all day without feeling hungry, thirsty or tired and all the time showing a happiness and gaiety. In ancient Rome , where chariot racing had become a huge part of their culture, athletes drank herbal infusions to strengthen them before chariot races.

The benefits of using some types of performance-enhancing drugs are obvious. Professional athletes have a very 'short shelf life' as competitors in most sports and must cash in on their talents as soon as possible. For Olympic athletes, the

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

Performance-Enhancing drugs are substances that make people stronger, faster, and all around better athletes. Not a lot was known about PED’s until around the 1990’s when it was found that these substances gave athletes a huge advantage that used them (“New Drugs Could be the Big Thing in Sports”2013). PED’s were used in a multitude of sports that did not even make the news. Today many athletes have come have come out about their personal use of Performance-Enhancing drugs, while others want to hide the fact that they went to illegal extremes to become a better athlete. There are still lawsuits today about proving if certain athletes used these illegal drugs to improve performance. This has tarnished the image of what

Have you or someone you know done drugs while playing a sport? Have you ever thought about the outcome of you/them using those drugs? Have you thought about how it affects other? Well, I am here to tell you the outcome of an athlete using drugs while playing sports.

Out of the 21,849 drug tests during the 1968-2008 summer games there was 105 cases of positive drug tests (“Drugs and athletes”). Performance Enhancing Drugs can either be Stimulants, Anabolic-androgenic steroids, human growth hormones, and Erythropoientin (“Performance Enhancing”). PED’s improve your overall athletic performance. PED’ are harmful and can even be fatal. Athletes use these substances to gain an unfair advantage to become better than their opponent. Athletes who use PED’s violate the spirit of competition and makes it not fun to compete for players who respect the rules. Every year countless players take PED’s to give them an unfair boost that can harm them, it also does not show their true athleticism on the field.

Now like every other aspect of the world, PEDs do come with positive and negative effects. Positive effects of PEDs are, for one, they help the body build muscle faster. This makes the individual stronger with less effort. Some performance enhancing drugs also increase muscle mass; performance enhancing drugs give athletes more energy and increase endurance. “Athletes turn to stimulants, supplements, steroids, and human growth hormones (HGH) for a variety of reasons […] Athletes may seek chemical help in making their training more effective or in helping them fight off fatigue and soreness

In all areas of sports, professional, college, and even high school, there is widespread illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. Although there are many reasons for athletes to choose to use these drugs, the cost of such use, both to the athlete and to society can be extraordinarily high. It is important to understand why performance-enhancing drugs are used and what are the consequences of their use to the athlete and society.

Performance enhancing drugs should be eliminated from all sports because they create an unfair competitive advantage. I am against the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports because it is a worldwide problem that takes the integrity out of the game. There are so many people involved from trainers, players and coaches. In the past athletes played for love of the game, today however, the players have so much more at stake then just being able to play the game because they love it.

The more oxygen flowing through blood and muscle, the better the athlete performs. Any athlete who uses a performance-enhancing drug to deliver more oxygen to their muscles will perform for longer periods of time throughout the physical activity. Another likely reason an athlete would use performance-enhancing drugs is simply to stimulate the body (Athletes & Drug Use). Athletes constantly need to keep their body stimulated to simply reduce fatigue, gain assertion, and maintain aggression (Athletes & Drug Use). Which is really not much different from a person drinking coffee in the morning to perk up. Importantly, athletes would use performance-enhancing drugs to mask injuries (Athletes & Drug Use). For example, if a wide-receiver breaks his finger or sprains his knee during a game, there are two options: one, the wide-receiver can be taken out of the game or two, the athletic trainer can give the wide-receiver an injection to take the pain away, allowing him to return to the remainder of the game.

I believe performance-enhancing drugs are an illusion to athletes as they only see one side of the drug. Athletes take these drugs knowing it will help them become stronger. But little do they know that the side effects of the drugs are very dangerous. When it comes to sports many athletes are influenced to take these drugs. These drugs might give athletes an advantage, but there are many risks when taking these drugs. These performance drugs can be androstenedione, steroids, androstenedione, and human growth hormone. Each one of these drugs is extremely dangerous and have many bad side effects to the human body.

Performance enhancing drugs can cause health risks which it takes the time to learn about the benefits, and health risks. Other drugs have different risks, benefits, and side effects. There is at least 7 different type of drugs. They all have different risks. The 7 kinds of drugs are anabolic steroids, Androstenedione, Human growth hormone, Erythropoietin, Diuretics, Creatine and Stimulants. The government should banned them because most of the athletes say it’s cheating and it’s not natural. PED makes you stronger and faster but they can also hurt you. Any substance taken to perform better athletically. This is reference often and typically refers to anabolic steroid use in sports by professional and amateur athletes. (Staff, 2010)

Some of the less known drugs can possibly be some of the most dangerous. Erythropoietin which is used by long distance runner, cyclists, and cross country skiers is used because it bolsters endurance by increasing the bloods supply of oxygen carrying red blood cells. Like Human Growth Hormone this is also undetectable by the present testing methods. The effects of this drug are catastrophic. It thickens the blood to a point where clots will form and would leave to a stroke or heart attack. Diuretics are used by body builders, boxers, wrestlers and all sports that are categorized by weight classes. This drug reduces weight quickly by hastening the excretion of urine; it is used by many athletes because it masks all other drugs. The result of this drug is dehydration, leg and stomach cramps, and excessive loss of sodium and potassium which eventually leads to kidney damage. Most performance enhancing drugs are bad for the health of players and should be strongly prohibited by all professional leagues. Players take Performance Enhancing Drugs to make themselves the “perfect athlete” but it ends up making them prone to cancer and numerous health defects.

More and more, of our society views winning more important than itself. Success in competition brings status, popularity, and fame, not to mention college scholarships. Today’s athletes are looking for an advantage over the competition that will make them winners. Unfortunately, the drugs of today are caught up in the high stakes competition frenzy. Of this reality, teenage use of performance improved drugs is growing ever more popular. In colleges and in the professional league a lot of people are doing drugs and its ruining their health and life. Also, if some teenagers take performance drugs they are making them better than everyone else giving themselves an advantage over everyone else which is cheating, so why should they get money