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Why are steroids banned in sports

Posted by Kevin

The sporting industry is a million dollar industry, and many athletes go even beyond to improve their performance thereby giving their best on the field. This is one rationale behind the increase in the use of steroids in recent times, and explains why the testing prior to an event includes testing for drug and steroid misuse. This averts athletes from using unjust means to increase performance.

Anabolic steroids actually work in a similar way as androgenic hormones like testosterone do. As our hormones give us energy and strength, these thus assist weight gain, muscle building, swiftness, and endurance in the sports ground. These types of drugs are very commonly used in sports including weight lifting and field events. Despite their popularity, these are very contentious drugs and scientists are not sure of whether or not they really help boost performance.

Apart from that, athletes that consume these swear by them and insist that their increased performance is due to the steroid use.

One of the reasons behind the dissimilarity in these opinions is the "placebo effect". As athletes think that the drug will assist them in recuperating their performance, they put in more effort into their game and consequently do better. One more reason is that the testing is carried out by using much lower amounts of drugs as compared to what is normally consumed by athletes.

These steroids work by means of testosterone which is the hormone that assists male human beings growth through their teenage years and adolescence stages. Testosterone brings about changes in sexual characteristics caused by the androgenic properties, which includes but is not limited to hair growth, penile growth, increased violence, and secondary characteristics like growth in muscle density, growth of bones, etc which is caused by the anabolic properties of testosterone.

Anabolic steroids imitate these changes while trying to bring down the androgenic effects and having just the anabolic properties play a role (thus the name), but this is not entirely possible and this causes harmful side-effects in the athletes who use these steroids.

With the increase in the amount of testosterone, the most prevalent side effect in males is unproductiveness where the body stops generating testosterone on its own to recompense for the amount being taken in through the drugs. These steroids will also cause liver damage, cholesterol build up, and growth of breast tissue in males.

An additional side effect of this is the increase in fierceness. In women, the testosterone causes increase in facial hair, changes in the menstrual cycle, and deepening of the voice.

These drugs may be taken orally, via injections, or via creams and gels. Dosages taken by athletes are extremely high, and generally well over one hundred times greater than the suggested dosages.

Generally athletes take two different types of the drug at the same time to generate enhanced results, starting from lesser dosages and increasing these for twelve weeks after which they taper them back to a lower level. This is believed to assist the body adjust to the drugs.

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