The Prolonged Effects of Steroids Essay

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.

Many children all across the United States and other countries try to replicate their favorite superstar athlete. Many athletes become the children’s idol and once the child learns that the athlete has cheated the game the athlete plays the child no longer looks up to the athlete. It is almost gotten to the point where no athlete that excels in a particular sport can be trusted. Every time a single athlete becomes great at their respective sport, speculation of steroid abuse immediately follows.

Steroids come with three different types of risks/side effects that include: mental health, addictive potential and physical dangers. Steroids have immediate effects on the brain of a user as soon as they begin taking them. As soon as steroids are introduced into the user’s system, they “[bind to the] androgen (male sex hormone) and estrogen (female sex hormone) receptors on the surface of a cell.” Studies have suggested that “steroids may contribute to psychiatric dysfunction, paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility” (“NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic)”, 2009). These mental side effects also contribute to the growing narcissistic nature of steroid users, where they feel invincible, that no one is better than them, or

Anabolic pose a ton of risk while associating with them as they are addictive and can pose health risks with abuse leading people to believe that they are bad and should be banned across all sports and taking them off doctors prescriptions, numerous risks involve shrinking of the testicals, heart conditions, strokes, blood clots and other physical defects.Leading to bad physical proportion and one example is men growing breasts and as said before shrinking of testicals leading to a lower sex drive, infertility testicular cancer and as serious as death. These are all risks associated with abuse of anabolic steroids where Corticosteroids risks are likely Bone density, ulcers, osteoporosis and numerous types of infections. (William A. Darity, Jr 2008, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner K. Lee Lerner 2012, Elizabeth Magill 2011, Barbra C. 2007, Stacey L. Blachford and Kristine Krapp,

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) can change the person’s social behaviors, such as their sexual satiety when they are adolescence and could also make them have aggressive behaviors. This is more likely to happen in an adolescent brain because it is more susceptible than adult brains. (Montalto, Salas-Ramirez, Sisk, 2010). Aggression is also the most reported side effects of the use of steroids in adults and teenagers. Those that used AAS were most likely to be aggressive and act in violent ways when those who were not. This is what the name “roid rage” comes from. (Lumia, McGinnis, 2010). The use in steroid use has increased dramatically in recent years with males. It is mostly used among adolescent males aging from as young as 11 to gain body mass and strength for completive sports. Using of this drug can serve life-long consequences and be permanent. (Lumia,

Steroids have taken over the game of baseball and more players are starting to get involved with them. Steroids are a big part of the Major League today in 2014, yet they entered the game of baseball through trainer Curtis Wenzlaff in 1992. Players and the game’s images are ravaged when they become caught up in steroids. Some of the best players to ever play the game of baseball have been caught up in steroids, including Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire. Players with this level of skill are supposed to be role models for younger kids, yet younger kids see that they used steroids and are tempted to use them. When their young, impressionable minds witness steroids use, naturally kids attempt to imitate their idols. More

Steroids can also cause hair loss, formation of “Mini breasts” and penile shrinking and low to no sperm production. Steroids can also cause heart disease, pain while urinating, HIV/aids from sharing needles, and cancer. Withdraw symptoms also start up after taking “roids”. Illness, dizziness, vision problems, anxiety, and depression are just some of the problems that can happen to the body and mind.

For as long as sports have been around, countless numbers of athletes have been driven towards being the best, and doing whatever it takes to become successful. As sports become more competitive, many athletes strive to find a way to improve their strengths and abilities. One possible solution to the problem, is with the help of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), also known as steroids. Steroids first came to flourishing in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 1970s, when Tom House a former pitcher in (MLB) openly recognizing that there were multiple players per team experimenting with steroids and human growth hormones. During the 1900s steroids quickly became much more excessive and widespread, according to Juicin’ in The Majors: A History of steroids in baseball written by Joshua Z. Lavine February, 2013. “ By the 1990s, steroids had become an epidemic….Rick Helling, a pitcher for the Texas Rangers and a player representative, stood up at the winter meeting of the Executive Board of the Major League Baseball Players Association and reported this problem…” Despite the pitchers cry and plea for awareness of the problem, he was ignored. Eventually the statistical evidence on the issue had come full force and much too strong to ignore. During the 1990s-2001 multiple players had hit sixty or

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.

Throughout the history of athletics, humans have pursued new and innovative ways to construct better, faster, stronger athletes. Steroid use is one of the most popular choices among these athletes. Steroids, first created in the 1930s, are synthetic hormones that produce specific physiological effects on one's body (Center for Substance Abuse Research). Although the German scientists who discovered steroids did not intend its use for body building or creating better athletes, steroid use has developed into a controversial subject concerning the health of users and other moral issues. Overall, the use of steroids in athletics is physically and morally wrong because it essentially promotes the deterioration of the health of athletes and

“…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 problem with today’s society is that steroids are everywhere and companies are finding ways around the steroid label by producing drugs that contain the same ingredients but are labeled differently. Professional athletes are also becoming big icons for people and many athletes are using steroids to enhance their performance. Athletes are supposed to be role models and by getting involved in these kinds of things people see it as an ok thing to do. Steroids are common everywhere, baseball and football players are constantly finding ways to take these drugs. Pro wrestling

Steroids have many different effects, mostly negative. They cause the rapid increase of strength and power (Roberts, 2). Steroids help to heal muscles quicker after they have been used. It acts as the male hormone testosterone and gives the user more energy. This is the effect that most users are trying to obtain. They also have the effect of powering up the bodies metabolism and helps to burn body fat. This output is looked for mostly obsess people. With have the time and effort of regular diet and weight training steroids may look like a great quick body tune-up. However the negative effects may short live the positive by a long shot.

In the past three decades, steroids has been becoming a serious problem more than ever in the athletic field. Steroids are anabolic drug "to build" growth hormones that include the androgens (male sex hormones) principally testosterone and estrogen and progestogens (female sex hormones). Steroids were first developed for medical purposes. They're used in controlling inflammation, strengthening weakened hearts, preventing conception, and alleviating symptoms of arthritis and asthma. Unfortunately research has shown that steroids have been abused in almost every kind of sport. Although steroids contribute to a muscular body, usage should remain illegal because they physically deteriorate and mentally destroy the body.

For adolescents the side effects are growth halted prematurely through premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes. This could mean adolescents will remain short for the rest of their lives if they take anabolic steroids before the typical adolescent growth spurt.