Abstract
The purpose of this term paper is to prevent the usage of steroids. Steroids are organic substances like hormones and cholesterol used to build up the body and increase its work. It was first used by athletes who wanted to increase their performance in the game. They were first used in 1860s. It leads to delusions and the player will see unreal things. Also, it damages the tendons and wipes their collagen fibers. Moreover, it causes liver and heart diseases and then the death. Finally, it damages the testicles and lowers their ability to produce hormones. Then, it displays the opponent's viewpoints and what they argue for.
Should Athletes Take Steroids?
What are steroids? According to Mifflin (2002) steroids in medicine are “any numerous naturally synthetic fat-soluble organic compounds having 17-carbon atoms arranged in four rings, and include cholesterol, sex hormones and certain vitamins”. Steroids were defined in 2012 as “one of a large group of chemical substances classified by a specific carbon structure” .
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Steroids are synthetic, man-made substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone. Steroids promote the growth of skeletal muscle and increase lean body mass. Anabolic steroids were first abused by athletes seeking to improve performance. Today, athletes and others abuse anabolic steroids to enhance performance and also to improve physical appearance. Using of steroids began in 1860s when a group of swimmers from Amsterdam took steroids to speeds up their race. And using them continued till now.
Nowadays, it is illegal to use steroids during competitions because it strengthens athlete's performance. Therefore, the intake of this medicine must be controlled or limited for many reasons and mainly for healthy issues, illegal intake, and even addiction.
Taking steroids is very dangerous. For one thing, taking high doses of steroids lead to delusions. Delusion- psychosis- is a mental disease that one can hear or see things which is not real . So the player, who takes lots of these substances, will see false images and hear unreal sounds. Also he will become aggressive and offensive. In addition they will lead to Memory loss. Doctors and researchers have reported many cases that linked memory loss to using steroids and addicting them .
A second harm of taking steroids is that it increases the risk of tendonitis. Taking these substances affect the body’s tendons and weaken its ability to work and support the body. The strong fiber of ligaments is made of collagen, and these doping disrupt their normal formation. So they produce abnormalities and make them not connected to the muscles . Scientists showed that taking lots of hormones and exercising at the same time will lead to dysplasia of collagen fibers which reduces the tendon strengthen. So the high doses of steroids taken by high trained players will put them in front of tendons’ destruction .
Thirdly, taking steroids causes heart and liver diseases. These materials can cause liver cancers. Dr. Wu showed that steroids cause liver cancer but at low rates. But it actually raises tumors inside the liver. Such this tumor, the hepatic adenomas which is not cancer but it’s very dangerous because it ruptures the liver and lead to bleeding inside it. And finally it leads to death of the player who is using these steroids a lot . Another thing, it weaken the heart and make it ineffectively. It is associated to the CVD (cardiovascular diseases) by causing heart attacks even in young athletes who are addicted to them. They lead to changes in cholesterol levels in the blood and alternation in the proteins that carry the cholesterol molecules .
Last but not least, steroids cause infertility. It harms the men’s testicles where the male sex hormone – testosterone – is produced. The brain send signals to the testicles to begin producing the testosterone, but using steroid for a long term will weaken this signals from
The brain until it stops. So the testicles will stop producing the hormone. As a result the testicle will shrink and the production will stop. This can lead to death. So bodybuilder and athletes taking these hormones either by mouth or by injecting will lose this ability to produce sperms thus losing their chance to bring babies.
In addition, athletes try to enhance their abilities by taking steroids without medical supervision or illegally. There is no safe dose of an anabolic steroid, even under a doctor’s supervision and health warnings . According to NSW, athletes are being brainwashed by magazines and handbooks about ways of using anabolic steroids through complicated 'scientific' explanations, which are often not based on science at all. Higher doses don't have much more of an effect than lower doses because the anabolic steroid receptor sites in muscle become saturated. There is really no point in taking extra anabolic steroids when they have no extra effects on your build - and can certainly cause more side effects. All over the globe, steroids are the giant in the room at bodybuilding championship, gyms, and playing fields. These substances are illegal in most countries around the world. The easy access to these substances is partially to blame, and they are easily obtained the black-market. Anyone can get these substances that will promote growth immediately without being aware of the potential side effects or the harm they can cause, or even death. (Anderson, 2011).
Opponents believe steroids should become legal arguing that they will improve the athletes’ performance. This is through having boosted muscles and reducing their body fat. It’s true that they increase the ability to work hard and have a high performance, but It does also have many side effects like weaken and destroying the muscles. In addition, it will lead to addiction on other drugs, and it may cause muscle dysmorphia.
Another believer for legalizing taking steroids assumes that their lives would be much easier and being the star will become true faster. They said that it increases their hormones and accelerates their hormone production, so the body becomes stronger and bigger and well-built one. It’s true that steroids increase the production of the hormones, but these materials affect the testes and shrinking them lowering the testosterone production, which is the main hormone inside the men’s body.
As a result, legalizing steroids in athletic competitions should be prevented and no one must take them. After all, since the beginning of the Olympic Games, sports are held to compete not to kill yourself to win.
Although steroids have some useful issues, they have many side effects. Even if they build the body and make it strong, they cause delusions, tendon inflammation, heart and liver diseases and destroying the testicles. So the purpose of this paper is to limit steroids usage, so that these effects will disappear.
References
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- Anabolic Steroid Abuse (2006). Drugabuse.gov. Retrieved May 10, 2015 From: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/anabolic-steroid-abuse/what-are-health-consequences-steroid-abuse
- IIiades, C. (2009). Steroids use and liver cancer, Everydayhealth.com. Retrieved May 10, 2015 From: http://www.everydayhealth.com/liver-cancer/steroid-use-and-liver-cancer.aspx
- Definition of steroids (2012). Steroid definition, Medicinenet.com. Retrieved May 9, 2015 From: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5556
- Colgan, Dr.M. (2009). TENDONS AND STEROIDS, Musculardevelpment.com Retrieved May 9,2015 From: http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/research-and-review/1848-tendons-and-steroids-beware-the-r-i-i-i-i-p-p-p.html#.VU8NJvlVikp
- Psychosis (2015). Healthline.com. Retrieved May 9,2015 From: http://www.healthline.com/health/psychosis#Overview1
- Brown, E. S. (2001). Mood and Cognitive Changes during Systemic Corticosteroid Therapy. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved May 9,2015 From: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181154/
- History of steroids (2011). Intheknowzone.com. Retrieved May 9,2015 Form: http://www.intheknowzone.com/substance-abuse-topics/steroids/history.html
- Houghton Mifflin Company (2002). Steroid definition, Dictionary.com. Retrieved May 9,2015 From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steroid
- W. King, J. (1991). Anabolic steroid-induced tendon pathology, Pubmed.gov. Retrieved May 9,2015 From: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1997802
- Brown, M. (2002-2015). How to Keep Your Balls in Order. Bodybuild.com. Retrieved May 10, 2015 From: http://www.bodybuildbid.com/articles/steroids/ballsinorder.html
- NSW. (July, 2013) Anabolic Steroids. Retrieved on May 16, 2015, From: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mhdao/Factsheets/Pages/anabolic.aspx
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