Why Steroids in Sports are prohibited?
The sporting industry is a million dollar industry, and many athletes go to great lengths to increase their performance in order to give their best in the field. This is one reason why the intake of steroid has risen in recent times, and why the testing prior to an event includes testing for drug and steroid abuse. This protects athletes from using unfair means to increase their performance.
“Anabolic Steroids,” is one popular performance boosting steroid, and apart from this several other common brand names for this are Dianabol, Deca Durabolin, and Sustanon.
Anabolic steroids actually work in a similar way as androgenic hormones like testosterone do. as our hormones give us energy and strength, these thus assist weight gain, muscle building, swiftness, and endurance in the sports ground. These types of drugs are very commonly used in sports including weight lifting and field events. Despite their popularity, these are very contentious drugs and scientists are not sure of whether or not they really help boost performance.
Apart from that, athletes that consume these swear by them and insist that their increased performance is due to the steroid use.
One of the reasons behind the disparity in these beliefs is the “placebo effect”. as athletes think that the steroid will facilitate them progress performance, they put in extra effort into their sport and as a result do better. Another reason is that the testing is completed by using much lower amounts of drugs as compared to what is generally consumed by athletes.
These steroids work by means of testosterone which is the hormone that assists male human beings grow through their teenage years and adolescence stages. Testosterone brings about changes in sexual characteristics caused by the androgenic properties, which includes but is not limited to hair growth, penile growth, increased violence, and secondary characteristics like growth in muscle density, growth of bones, etc which is caused by the anabolic properties of testosterone.
Anabolic drugs impersonate these transformation while trying to reduce the androgenic effects and having only the anabolic properties play a role (thus the name), but this is not entirely possible and this results in negative side-effects in the athletes who consume these drugs.
Due to the increase in the quantity of testosterone, the most common adverse effect in males is infertility where the body stops producing testosterone on its own to compensate for the amount being consumed through the drugs. These drugs will as well cause liver damage, in increase in cholesterol level, and enlargement of breast tissue in males.
An additional side effect of this is increase in fierceness. In women, the testosterone causes increase in facial hair, changes in the menstrual cycle, and deepening of the voice.
These drugs may be taken orally, via injections, or via creams and gels. Dosages taken by athletes are extremely high, and generally well over one hundred times greater than the suggested dosages.
Usually athletes consume two different kinds of the drug simultaneously to get enhanced results, starting from lesser dosages and increasing these for twelve weeks following which they decrease them back to a lesser level. This is supposed to help the body become use to the drugs.
Disclaimer: The anabolic steroids information provided in this editorial is for instructive and amusement purposes only. This article does not, in any way, disregard the prohibited position and/or consumption of anabolic steroids for purposes other than those accepted by the FDA or other officially recognized authoritarian bodies.
