The Top 7 Performance Enhancing Drugs Used by Athletes
What Are Performance Enhancing Drugs?
Performance enhancers are various substances, chemical agents, or procedures designed to provide an advantage in athletic performance. PEDs affects the body in multiple ways such as the increase in muscles and the increase in blood cells oxygen-carrying capacity. Despite these apparent advantages, the use of these substances is regarded as highly unethical and medically dangerous. Most of these substances are outlawed by organizations that govern the athletic industry.
Many athletes use performance-enhancing substances to improve their athletic abilities. However, these addictive and dangerous drugs often give an unfair advantage over competitors in sports. It is common knowledge that the International Olympic Committee banned performance-enhancing substances but because of severe competition, the use of performance-enhancing substances in sports has become increasingly common. Taking these drugs can have both benefits and consequences.
Types of Performance Enhancing Drugs Include:
- Anabolic steroids: Anabolic steroids increase the testosterone produced by your body making muscles bigger and helps the body recover from workouts more quickly. It can be taken as a pill, injection, or topical treatment.
- Androstenedione: Androstenedione allows athletes to train harder and recover quicker from strenuous work-outs. Some risks are acne, decrease in sperm production, shrinking of the testicles, and masculinization in women.
- Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Human Growth Hormone, only available by prescription and is administered through injections. Risks include fluid retention, cardiomyopathy which is the weakening of the heart muscle, muscle weakness, and joint pain.
- Erythropoietin: Erythropoietin is taken by athletes to increase the movement of oxygen in muscles. This drug is extremely dangerous and can cause death, strokes, and heart attacks.
- Diuretics: Diuretics cause a change in the body’s natural water and salt levels. The use of this drug may be to lower weight or clean out the body to help pass drug tests. Diuretics can lead to dehydration, exhaustion, heatstroke, heart arrhythmias, and death.
- Creatine: Creatine is the most popular supplement among the performance-enhancing drugs in sports. It is sold over the counter and is used to help the muscles release energy. Side effects of creatine are stomach and muscle cramps, nausea, weight gain, and in high-doses liver and kidney damage.
- Stimulants: Stimulants increase heart rate and blood pressure and are taken to improve endurance, reduce fatigue, and increase alertness. The consequences of this drug include stroke, dehydration, convulsions, heart attack, and heart palpitations. Negative Side Effects Include baldness, acne, infertility, hypertension, drug dependence, liver abnormalities, tumors, heart, and circulatory problems.
What Are the Cardiovascular Risks of PEDs?
Different types of PEDs carry different risks. Among those at greatest risk are young athletes who have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. An inherited medical condition that thickens the heart muscle. Anabolic steroids, which have also been shown to thicken the main pumping chamber of the heart, could worsen hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Other cardiovascular risks may include heart attacks and heart arrhythmia.
Are Anabolic Steroids Addictive?
Anabolic steroids are the most commonly abused substance to enhance athletic performance. Research suggests that around 32 percent of people who abuse steroids form a dependence on them. Symptoms of dependence may include, the development of tolerance and withdrawal. Developing a tolerance to anabolic steroids causes users to consume larger doses of the substance to achieve the same effects as before. This is caused by your body growing accustomed to the previous doses. Forming a dependence on anabolic steroids is the initial stage of addiction.
What are Designer Steroids?
Designer steroids or synthetic steroids are a particular class of steroids that are manufactured illegally to remain undetected by current drug tests. They are created specifically for athletes with no approved medical use. As they are manufactured illegally these substances have not been tested or subjected to government safety standards and represent a particular health risk to athletes. Adverse effects of these synthetic steroids may include high blood pressure (hypertension), heart and blood circulation problems, psychiatric disorders, liver abnormalities, and tumors.
What is Blood Doping?
Blood doping is a technique that involves the use of substances to increase the red blood cell mass in the body. This practice allows red blood cells to carry more oxygen to working muscles and increase their aerobic capacity and endurance. There are three most common methods and substances used in this practice, namely, erythropoietin (EPO), synthetic oxygen carriers, and blood transfusions. This practice is highly dangerous as they increase the risk of heart attacks and stress, blood clotting, and strokes. The transfusion method increases the risk of infectious diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.
How do Performance-Enhancing Substances Affect Athletes?
Although stimulants can boost athletic performances, athletic endurance, and promote aggressiveness on the field, they also possess side effects that can impair athletic performance, including nervousness, irritability, insomnia, and dehydration which can hinder an athlete’s concentration and performance. There have in fact been high profile incidences of athletes dying due to the misuse of PEDs.
Do Steroids Shorten Your Life?
Individuals who misuse androgenic anabolic steroids, such as testosterone may encounter a higher risk of early death and experience high hospital admissions, according to a study published by the Journal of Internal Medicine.
How Long is it Safe to Use Steroids?
Steroid misuse for over two weeks can decrease the ability of your body to respond to physical stress. A higher dose of steroid may be needed at times of major stress due to the build-up of tolerance over time. Long-term steroids can suppress the protective role of your immune system and increase your risk of infection. Individuals who misuse steroids may require years to recover from the damages caused by their use, while some damages may remain irreversible.