РефератыИностранный языкAbAbout Steroids Essay Research Paper Many people

About Steroids Essay Research Paper Many people

About Steroids Essay, Research Paper


Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids, yet


the desired effects are so overwhelming that people tend to overlook the


consequences. Steroid users believe taking anabolic steroids will enhance their


performance, strength, size,etc. They regard the use of them as legitimate as any


other aspect of training.


To begin with, the term "anabolic " means "to build tissue," therefore


anabolic steroids tend to increase constructive metabolic pathways within the


body. Also, anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the natural male


sex hormone, testosterone.


Testosterone was the first steroid developed, a natural occuring hormone in


many plants and animals. The first clinical use of testosterone occured in 1958


when physicians injected it into underweight and ill patients to simualte weight


gain. The first reported use of steroids in a non-medical setting occured during


World War II. Steroids were adminstered by Nazi doctors into German soldiers to


enhance their aggressiveness. The Soviet Union noted the Nazis’ use of the drug


and recognized that enhanced aggressiveness, increasing in strength, and size


could be desirable in athletic competition. The Soviets experimented with steroids


in the early 1950’s and it is believed that they were used in the 1952 Olympic


games.


The introduction of steroids into the United States is often attributed to the


late Dr. John Ziegler, the team physician for the United States weightlifting team


at the last Vienna World Power lifting championships. A Soviet physician told


Ziegler that some of the members fo the Soviet team were using testosterone as an


aid to enhance their strength. Ziegler was impressed with the results and began


conducting some studies on American lifters. The results were the development


and introduction of the steroid Dianobol, an anabolic steroid with fewer


masculinizing properties than testosterone. Dianobol became well known in the


athletic world. By the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games, steroid use had escalated


to the point that many Olympic competetors in the strength events were either


using them or were aware of their performance ehancing abilties.


Anabolic steroids are all derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone.


With the use of steroids a person will receive two types of effects from the use.


The first is the androgenic effects or masculinizing. These are the unwanted


effects such as the enlarging of the prostate, growth of male sex glands, deepening


of the voice, and increased facial hair(other steroids were developed in an attempt


to separate these effects of testosterone from the anabolic). The other effect is


anabolic effects, the wanted effects. There are three major benefits that are


wanted from steroid use and they are: Frist athletes will attain a greater increase


in lean muscle mass and strength when it is used with a combination of rigorous


training and the drug. The second major benefit of the steroid use is that the


athlete’s body suffers less breakdown. This decrease in muscle breakdown and


recovery time permits more frequent training sessions at higher intensity and for


longer periods of time. The third benefit is the increased aggresiveness they are


believed to simulate. This increased aggresssiveness may drive athletes to train


harder and longer without the usual fatigue. Other positive effects of using


stero

ids is increases in; storage of muscle glycogen, blood volume, a general


boasting of the immune system, and the reduction of body fat percentage. The


effects are maintained as long as the athlete continues the steroid use.


Anabolic steroids also have a number of potentially harmful side effects.


The introduction of synthetic hormones results in decreased levels of other natural


hormones. This worsens acne and accelerates baldness. This can also result in


the decrease production of sperm and testosterone by the testes, which can lead to


atrophy of the testes. Increased incidents of liver tumors and abnormal liver


funtions have been noted in patients using anabolic steroids. Liver, prostate, and


testicular cancer have been linked to steroid use, particularly oral steroids.


Increases in high density cholesterol is noted in people using steroids, suggesting


hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, and blood-clotting disorders. Also,


athletes using steroids seem to be suffering many more muscle and tendon injuries.


Some doctors wonder if it is the drug-induced brittelness of the muscle or tendon


or the heavier weights that is being lifted. Others think the increased


aggressiveness causes lifters to ignore warning signals from an overworked body


and they train harder than they should.


In adult women, severe masculinizing effects have been documented


including hair growth onthe cheeks and the chin, male patern baldness, irreversible


deepening of the voice, shrinkage of the breast size, uterine atrophy, and menstrual


irregularities. In pre-adults, anabolic steroids can cause the premature closure of


the bone growth plates resulting in shorter structures.


Another major side effect includes what has been popularly called "roid


rage". For training and competition, the increased aggressiveness has been


classified as a benefit of steroid use; however, with increasing dosage, the


increased aggression will have an adverse effect. Wild aggression and paranoid


delusions are common in some steroid users, and they may also suffer from major


depressions and peroids of spontaneous violence.


Steroids can also be both physicaly and psychologically addictive.


Physcially many many athletes experience severe depressions following periods of


not taking the drug, similar to that of any other drug addict. Psychologically,


steroid use can be compulsive and unstoppable in what has been termed by the


medical community as "reversed anorexia". The steroid users have an


uncontrollable obsession with being big instead of skinny. This obsession results


in the continuing or increased usage of anabolic steroids.


The use of steroids in the United States has been estimated as high as one


million persons, or one in every two hundred-fifty people. The major reason for


this large amount of useage is that sports have envolved from recreational pastime


to a lucrative money-making venture at the professional level. Speed and strength


have opened the door to financial opportunities and a bond has been formed


between sports and steroids. The concept of sports as a fun recreational activity


has been surpassed by sports as a business. Many athletes will sell their bodies to


steroids for an opportunity to win a spot on a professional roster or winning a gold


medal in the Olympics. Since the introduction of steroids to sports, the reason for


their use has remained the same; the pursuit of the winning edge.


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