Performance Enhancing Drugs Are Dangerous

Performance-Enhancing drugs are an unnatural way of changing one's body, and the effects can be life altering, sometimes better yet always, in the end, much worse. It is for this reason why major league sports have put strict rules in place suspending athletes who use these drugs; the Olympics ban these athletes for life. These drugs harm the bodies and minds of athletes, and they are banned to protect their health for their benefit and for the sports as well.

Performance-enhancing drugs (PED 's) have been an issue for many decades now for the medical and sports field. Olympic and professional athletes have been using them to gain an upper hand on the competition, but some may ask if it 's really worth it? Studies show that performance-enhancing drugs have been proven to negatively affect the health of athletes who take them. Simply put, performance-enhancing drugs could either improve athletic performance or can be extremely dangerous, in certain situations, deadly. There have been strict rules and drug testing in the professional sporting organizations, as well as in world competitions. For example, in the summer of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, in two of the

Later it was discovered that anabolic steroids could facilitate the growth of skeletal muscle which led to abuse by bodybuilders, weightlifters, and athletes in other sports. Abuse of anabolic steroids can cause acne, breast development in men, heart attacks, and liver cancer. Most side effects are reversible if the abuser stops taking the drugs, but some are permanent, such as voice deepening in females. Possible health consequences for men are infertility, shrinking of the testicles, and male-pattern baldness while with women enlargement of the clitoris, and excessive growth of body hair can happen. It can affect the musculoskeletal & cardiovascular system, liver, skin, cause infection, and have psychiatric effects such as rage, aggression, mania, and delusions. Treatment of anabolic steroid abuse uses medications to restore the hormonal system after its disruption, and medication to target specific withdrawal symptoms.

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

Drugs in sports is becoming a problem everywhere. “Another 26-year old athlete died of liver cancer after taking a number of different types of steroids over a four year period ” (Drugs and…). This is significant because this shows how dangerous drugs can be. If we have drug testing in schools this student could still be alive and would have stopped drugs before it got bad. The evidence points to the fact that drugs are a major health risk that is very concerning. In some cases taking drugs can even lead to death. In addition, another situation took place that affected a college student named Bob. Bob tried everything to gain weight so he could play football, so he chose to try steroids like everyone else. Steroids got him to play professional football, but horrible things were happening to him. He was having serious health problems. Bob quit drugs and is lucky to be alive (Drugs and…). This connects to the fact that doing drugs is a major

Abstract:  With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent.  The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change.  No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent.  Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.

“…medical researchers believe that between 1 and 3 million youths and adults have taken anabolic steroids in one form or another specifically to enhance their looks or athletic performances,” stated Nuwer (Nuwer, 61). As astounding as these figures are, the number of performance drug users is steadily increasing. With this progressively increasing numbers, it is projected that millions more will use steroids in the immediate future (Newer, 61). Athletes have always sought an advantage in competition even if ignoring the law and their health if necessary. Using drugs of any sort to facilitate an athlete’s athletic ability should be illegal. The use of performance enhancing drugs is not only detrimental to the user but it also creates an

The most commonly discussed issue in sports of the 21st century is the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. Over the past four years, it has been nearly impossible to turn on the television without hearing something about athletes and these drugs. From former National League MVP Third Baseman Ken Caminiti's admission of steroid use in an issue of Sports Illustrated (Verducci, 2004) to 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis being stripped of title due to a failed doping test (Blue, 2006) virtually every sport is involved. Are performance enhancing drugs a substance that threatens the very existence of professional sports, or are they the future? Perhaps the issue

As the popularity of sports continues to increase in society, so has the use of performance enhancing drugs, primarily anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids increase the amount of testosterone in the body which allows for increased muscular development. These drugs have been known to be used in all kinds of different sports. Athletes will use these drugs to try to please fans, receive a large contract, and to try to keep up with the players who are already using these drugs. This is creating a negative impact on the sports and on the lives of the athletes. The use of steroids in sports is bad because it is not healthy for the athletes, it hurts the spirit of sports, and it will have an effect on the future generations of athletes.

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, performance enhancing drugs have become a religious practice in “the lives of some sport figures.” The use of these supplements have given athletes an edge to perform at maximum capability. Most major athletes all agree on the fact that the competitive drive is intensely fierce. Despite all, most athletes have high hopes of attaining prestigious awards, a full ride college scholarship or the once in a lifetime opportunity to play for a professional team. In such instances, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has become increasingly conventional (Athletes & Drug Use). Accomplishing such goals includes taking performance-enhancing drugs. As society evolves and progresses, one has to realize

Recently a documentary was released by National Geographic Channel on The history, advantage and disadvantages on Steroids, revealing several people, famous and prominent individuals have lost their lives; Eddie Girero died at 38 years due to heart disease, Brian Pilman a professional wrestler died at the of 35, also of heart disease. Both men were addicted to steroids. Ben Johnson a Canadian, who want gold medal for the United States in the 100 meter race, got his gold revoked, because he was a steroid addict. However Steroid’s side effects are still yet to be investigated from the medical point of view.

Thirdly, many serious side effects and health risks are involved with using PEDs. The benefits of these drugs are really not worth the risks. ‘It is already known that steroids cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes.’ (Mirkin, 2007) What’s worse, these drugs harm not only the athletes themselves but also harm their children. Mirkin (2007) said that, through a study on the children of the athletes who use PEDs, ‘more than 25 percent had

In today’s world, sports have become more and more about winning than the game itself. Success within sports not only comes with status, but popularity and fame as well. The want and need to succeed in athletics has driven great athletes to take illegal measures to give themselves an edge over their competition. Performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids, androstenedione, and ephedra alkaloids are all used by athletes to take the shortcut to success and bypass all the hard work that success takes. Although performance enhancing drugs do enhance an athlete’s performance, at the same time they do more harm than good to the human body. Some of these side effects include hypertension, heart disease, liver disease, acne, high LDL, and “roid rage” are just some of the many problems that come with PED’s. Not only do these drugs bring along many health problems but can be lethal as well. Many people believe that PED’s should be allowed because athletes are only doing it for their own good. Professional athletes are not the only ones abusing the easy way out, high school and college athletes are starting to do the same to earn a scholarship to a Division-1 school or landing that big time contract with a professional team. All in all, it’s just not the right thing to do; success from hard work is a lot sweeter than the success from cheating. Performance enhancing drugs must be outlawed in all aspects of professional sports for the future of athletics and society must recede

Performance enhancing drugs are any type of substance that is taken by athletes so they are able to perform better in the sport. Athlete’s use performance enhancing drugs because they want to become better in a sport, such as baseball and football. There are many types of performance enhancing drugs that athletes use. In this paragraph I will be talking about two different kinds of drugs that are used by athletes. The first one is anabolic steroids which is a type of steroid hormone based on androgen testosterone. This drug is also known as AAS or anabolic-androgenic steroid. The anabolic steroid is used by athletes to boost their rate in protein synthesis within the cells. The building of the cellular tissue is noticeable in muscles. The anabolic steroid influences the masculine characteristics which are the growth of the body hair and vocal cords. The anabolic steroids are used as drugs because athletes use it to increase the strength and size of their muscles. It can also gain competitiveness and aggressiveness in which is a trait desirable in sports. They can prescribe anabolic steroids to induce male puberty, stimulate bone growth, promote appetite, and degrade the effects of the muscle decreasing from chronic diseases, like AIDS or cancer. This drug can be available in skin patches, injectable steroids, and oral pills. There are side effects to taking anabolic steroids which are liver pressure, high blood

However, steroids should remain illegal because they physically deteriorate the whole body system. When injected one risks the chances of developing hematoma and contracting AIDS. In women steroids contribute to the growth of facial hair, enlargements of the clitoris, shrinkage of the uterus, sterility, deepening of the voice, decrease in breast size and irregularity of the menstrual cycle. In men steroids cause shrinkage of the testicles, decrease in sperm count, sterility, impotence, prostate enlargement and growth of female breast. In both men and women hair loss, liver ailments, acne, atherosierosis and cancer are very common. This dangerous drug shortens the life span up to twenty years and increases the chance of obtaining diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. The side effects and reactions from enduring anabolic steroids are endless.