Exploring Topics in Sports: Why Do Athletes Risk Using Performance Enhancing Drugs?: School of Professional Studies Northwestern University

Use for AAS to enhance athletic performance is banned, and coaches, trainers, and medical staff should monitor for signs of use. The use/abuse of AAS has several notable side effects with various consequences that are, in some cases, reversible. Coaches, parents, trainers, and medical staff need to understand why athletes might use AAS and provide educational programming in a preventive capacity.

Exogenous AAS exposure in preadolescence triggers pubertal onset and may result in early epiphyseal maturation and closure, leading to loss of ultimate height potential (40). Although mild acne is common during adolescence (40), AAS use may result in severe nodular acne, particularly on the back and shoulders, which is often resistant to treatment. Then there are stimulants, which make athletes more alert and can overcome the effects of fatigue by increasing heart-rate and blood flow. But they are addictive and, in extreme cases, can lead to heart failure. A major drug scandal at the 1998 Tour de France, external underlined the need for an independent international agency to set standards in anti-doping work.

Treatment for Athletes at Gateway

Furthermore, drug testing helps to protect the rights and interests of clean athletes. When athletes use performance-enhancing drugs, they gain an unfair advantage over their competitors. This not only diminishes the efforts and sacrifices made by clean athletes but also undermines the overall integrity of the sport. By conducting regular and random drug tests, sports organizations can ensure that all athletes are competing on a level playing field, promoting fair competition. The true nature of AAS use and abuse in athletes and recreationally trained individuals is difficult to discern and is often underestimated. In addition to surveys and doping results, other sources of information on AAS use include investigated journalism and government hearings.

drug use in sports pros and cons

Continued use can cause the body to stop producing hormones naturally and lead to organ enlargement, stunted growth, liver damage, and fertility issues. Moreover, natural testosterone levels may never recover, making the consequences of doping irreversible. Side effects may also be psychological, with testosterone often being connected to increased aggressiveness because it impacts the brains subcortical structures in the amygdala and the hypothalamus.

Positive impact

One could argue that Sha’Carri was not taking drugs to physically enhance her performance. Consequently, in a roundabout way it can also help with performance and this https://ecosoberhouse.com/ is actually, whether intentionally used for this purpose or not, performance enhancing. Androgen/AR binding activates signaling through the Wnt-β-catenin pathway.

drug use in sports pros and cons

Proper treatment is the only way to divert an athlete from a path of addiction that will ruin their career and their life. Our culture expects athletes to display mental toughness at all times, and we often view struggles with substance abuse in athletes drug use in sports as antithetical to that expectation. Even though science has made it clear that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, many people still believe it is a symptom of personal failure or lack of character — especially in the sports world.

How Does Drug Testing in Sports Affect the Overall Perception of Fairness Among Athletes?

Androstenedione, also called andro, is a hormone everyone’s body makes. The body turns andro into the hormone testosterone and a form of the hormone estrogen. Sports “ain’t never been clean,” says Charles Yesalis, former Pennsylvania State University professor and long-time performance-enhancing drug researcher.

The only way taking performance enhancing drugs is suitable in sport is if all athletes are under a mandatory obligation to take the drugs. Coaching and training also improve performance but are available to all sportspeople whereas the majority will not take drugs for ethical and medical reasons. Doping as a professional teaches kids that it is an acceptable form of conduct. Many student athletes, including those in youth sports, look up to professionals who play the same game or a similar position as a role model.