Effects Of Anobolic Steroids Essay Research Paper

Effects Of Anobolic Steroids Essay, Research Paper

The Effects of Anabolic Steroids

You?ve all seen them, the enormously large muscle-heads at the gym, the participates of the World?s Strongest Man Competition, the amazing offensive tackles, and the lightning fast runners. They were all unnaturally strong, and looked like gods. You tend to obsess over how beautiful their bodies are, how strong they are, or how fast they can run. All you can think about is reaching that level of athletic excellence, and nothing will hold you back. At times like these some people tend to take the quick fit to get closer to their idols, in the form of steroids. But what individuals tend not see is the horrible side effects that accompany the use of these anabolic steroids. These powerful drugs have both positive and negative results from their use. Along with increased strength and size, users of steroids suffer from a wide range of sicknesses such as cancer, shrinkage of testicles, bad acne, hair loss, damage organs, intense mood swings, and impotence.

Anabolic steroids are a group of muscle building chemicals, which are synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone. Developed in the 1930?s, they were prescribed to aid in muscle tissue repair by those who had undergone surgery or had degenerative diseases. Now the patients do not only use them but also athletes. Starting in the 1940?s steroids were introduced into sports. Steroids were one of the main reasons that Russia?s 1952 Olympic weightlifting team came out with pile of medals. With these results other nations thought their competitors should have the same advantage, and the use of steroids spread like wildfire.(NIDA pg 2) But now steroids are illegal to use if not prescribed by a physician, and have been banned by nearly all-athletic organizations, both professional and amateur.

Just how popular is the use of steroids? Well, one survey states that the prevalence of self-reporting anabolic steroids use in adolescents ranges from 5%-11% of males and 2.5% in females.(AAP pg 2) So, the even at a young age kids decide to use steroids to their advantage. At this age they do not take time to look at the adverse effects of steroid but only the perks. Most individuals consume steroids in two ways. People either administer them orally or by intramuscular injection. Once taken there are a series of events that take place. First the steroids bind to androgen receptors at the cellular level, stimulating the production of RNA, resulting in an increase in protein synthesis.(AAP pg 2) Individuals typically use a combination of oral and injectable drugs during 6 to 12 week cycles when using anabolic steroids.

When you think of someone who uses steroids, you typically picture someone who is massive, and whose muscle mass is very well defined. A picture comes to mind of the giant bodybuilder, who is so big he can?t find any type of clothing that will fit the shapes and curves of his body. His thigh, arms and chest are much too massive to fit into any type of normal clothing. He has to rely on a tailor to make clothes that fit the proportions of their body. But at the same time this physique allows him to squat with his car on his shoulders. The possible growth and development is amazing. With much less work necessary, the results can be astounding. Athletes can get bigger, stronger and faster, with less effort than they could put forth before. The limits of athletes potential with steroids seem to be unbounded. These are the positive aspects to the use of steroids. One study showed that as much as ten pounds of lean muscle could be gained by a mature adult using steroids over a year?s period. The resulting size and strength increases would be greatly more easier attained than without use of steroids.(Taylor pg. 45) Also, the type of body structure that may males are looking for can be easily obtained through the use of steroids. Large pectoral muscles, as well and big biceps and a well-defined stomach are what many teenage users are after. They want the body that would stand out, and turn the heads of ladies on the beach. Society dictates what the current trends are, and our society has dictated that athletic looking men and women are in. But not everyone can be so fortunate to have a beautiful body. So through the use of steroids, people can attain the wonderful body that they desire. One ex-user commented that after he had used steroids and bulked up, he was much more popular with the opposite sex, and got much more respect from his male peers. (Deacon pg. 52)

Steroids are also used for therapeutic applications as well, although their use here is much less well known. Steroids can be used to promote healing in-patients who have recently undergone surgery; they also help protect blood for producing bone marrow after radiation therapy. Also, steroids can be used to help treat skeletal disorders such as osteoporosis broken bones because they aid in the reconstruction of the bone matrix. (Goldman pg. 201) The positive effects of steroids are quite obvious, and quite powerful. Unfortunately, the use of steroids tends to result in many damaging side effects in the users. The mournful stories of dominating athletes who used steroids, who are no longer great at their one time profession seems to do the newspaper pages quite regularly. Take Canada?s Dave Johnson, he won a Olympic gold medal in track and then was fou