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Why Do Athletes Use Dietary Supplements?

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Abstract When athletes use dietary supplements it is easy for them to ignore the long term effects of these supplements in order for them to gain temporary advantages. If not used correctly, dietary supplements can lead to irreversible damage to the body or even death. Understanding the advantages and drawbacks of using supplements is important when applying them to your everyday life. In this paper, a variety of supplements commonly used by athletes for weight loss, muscle gain, and energy enhancement will be discussed. Their effects on the body will be explained as will the pros and cons of each. The ongoing debate on whether or not athletes should be allowed to use them is also discussed. The knowledge of what you put into your body can …show more content…

For example, there are supplements that can help athletes surpass their regular limit of energy. One that is widely used by athletes and non-athletes is caffeine. Caffeine is most commonly known to be found in soda, coffee, and energy drinks. There are also other products that contain it such as ice cream and yogurt. A common misconception of caffeine is that it gives you artificial energy when you consume it. However, what it is really doing is tricking your body into thinking it is not tired. Adenosine is a neurochemical found in all human cells. It promotes sleep, and also dilates the brain’s blood vessels to increase oxygen intake (Nichols, 2014). As the day progresses on, the adenosine in the body builds up more and more. When there is a certain amount of adenosine in the body, sleep is the response it triggers. The nervous system has receptors that keep track of the levels of adenosine and when it recognizes that there is too much, your body begins to feel tired. Caffeine comes into play as it blocks those receptors from realizing you have a certain amount of adenosine in your body. Now that your body cannot recognize the neurochemical, it also causes the blood vessels in your brain to constrict which minimizes pain. When the build-up of adenosine has nowhere to go, the brain begins to fire neurons at an increased rate. This …show more content…

It has also been proven to increase the amount of endurance shown when exercising. This liberty of choosing when your body gets tired is easily misused. When the caffeine finally wears off, the adenosine that built up has its chance to be processed through your body’s receptors. Because your body is not always fit to handle a huge wave of adenosine flooding through your receptors, it cause you to crash to recuperate. When people continue to ingest caffeine to avoid the crash, they tend to get symptoms such as: nausea, increased heartbeat, anxiety, insomnia, dizziness, heart palpitations, and vomiting. In extreme cases, caffeine can even cause cardiac arrest. This is why the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has a set amount of caffeine that can be found in a student athlete in order for them to be eligible. Caffeine can be a very useful tool is used with

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