Performance Enhancing Drugs

While researching the use of performance enhancing drugs and its impact on individuals and society I found that this is considered a growing public health issue. Articles and other sources found while doing my research show that there is a growing concern about the ease and availability of seeking performance enhancing drugs. My goal in writing this paper is to educate individuals about the reasons why they are used and also the risks involved. I also want to state that I am not in agreement with athletes using performance drugs to succeed. In today’s society, sports and athletics are favored by most people. With the large amount of websites related to performance enhancing drugs it is important for health care professionals to be aware …show more content…
Many athletes want to reach a level of greatness for their country, themselves or their team. There are several forms of performance enhancing drugs. Previously mentioned include the Anabolic steroids, there is also Androstenedione, human growth hormone and Erythropoietin (Mayo clinic). Anabolic steroids or anabolic androgen steroids are taken to increase muscle mass and strength. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid made by your body and has two main effects including boosting building muscle and androgenic effects are important in certain male traits like facial hair. These steroids come in many forms and are illegal (Mayo clinic).
These drugs are tempting to athletes for many reasons including making muscles bigger and recovering faster from workouts and even changes in focus. There is a class of steroids called designer steroids which are very dangerous and are made primarily for athletes and have not been tested and can cause an increased health risks. It is common for athletes to take doses larger than prescribed for specific reasons and impossible to design studies to test the effects of steroids at high doses (Mayo …show more content…
Then there is the question of testing and the National Football League has a year round testing program that seems to work in which players are randomly tested and has a list of banned substances(Robinson, T., 2009). The International Olympic Committee and other major sports leagues are frequently updating their drug testing programs to keep up with advances in today’s world of supplements and dietary additives that can sometimes alter test results. Generally if someone is cheating by using performance enhancing drugs they usually have a way to alter test

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