Negative Impacts of Performance Enhancing Drugs

Introduction

The performance-enhancing drugs have been around for a long time and athletes and none-athletes have been using them since the early 1930s. These drugs were not widely used back then but as the new generation came to the world, the number of unsafe and unnecessary use has been increased. The use of performance-enhancing drugs has increased to the extent that it has become a huge concern in sports and after all, countries started agencies to control the use of these drugs. This is mainly because sports have lost their true meaning and they have become a place for fame and money. So, athletes have decided that using these drugs can give them more advantage which results in them reaching the top. To be mentioned, these drugs are not giving athletes only advantages, it is taking away from their health. So, these athletes reach the top and become an example to the young generation of athletes and other people. These people are in danger of these drugs because they cannot reach the place that those athletes reached without the use of performance-enhancing drugs. This is why performance-enhancing drugs should be banned from sports because they provide an unfair/unequal circumstance, can result in serious health-related problems and set a bad example for young athletes and people.

Body

The idea of sports was different, and athletes did not do it for fame or money. They wanted to reach a higher place on a spiritual level, they wanted a better and strong mind, and they participated in sport to stay healthy. They tried to challenge the natural body, and they wanted to become one with the nature surrounding them. Places like U.S. anti-doping agencies have been opened because the number of athletes using performance-enhancing drugs to win in the Olympics or competitive sports is higher than usual. In today’s world, athletes are trying to become famous and make money out of these competitions. The problem with this goal is that the number of participants is more than before and some athletes are stronger and more talented than the others which makes it harder to reach the top. Because of this the amount of pressure that these athletes go through is not comparable to most of the daily life pressures. This is where the idea of Performance enhancing drugs comes to mind, in which some athletes use these drugs and win their game unfairly. Athletes and people do not see the problem with these drugs because they think that they are just making the competition fair and more challenging but in reality, they are cheating their way up, and the problem with this kind of cheat is that it is not visible to eyes. To be said, if these drugs were helping the completion, then every athlete should be able to use it. Which then would make it useless because now everyone can improve their skill to the same extent. (Haley, 2013)

Some research shows that most people do not like to watch sports or competitions that have teams with equal stats. People like to see the difference in power. They want to see one strong team verse a weak one, and if everyone started using performance-enhancing drugs, the viewership would drop drastically. This can be hurtful to players, teams, and sport itself. We can connect this to our knowledge about power. Our society is based on the power structure and going against that structure can cause problems. These athletes are trying to cheat their way to the position of power by cheating but in reality, they need to earn their way up there or they need to get closer to someone with power.

Outperforming others is normal behavior and goal in competitive sports, and that is why athletes use these drugs because they see it as a logical behavior. But this should not be accepted because some say that it is a common trait in most sports, it should be off the tables because it is unsafe and wrong. There are many other ways in which athletes can reach their peak performance and these drugs should not be one of them. These athletes can go through interviewing in order to boost their motivation and morale. They can learn how to explore the goals and values of an athlete, they can learn more about the true nature of sports and how they can apply it to their life after sports. During this process, athletes will understand that cheating in sports and harming yourself in the process is not the true aim of the sports (White and Noun, 2016). This way we can have cleaner and safer sports.

We have so many different kinds of performance-enhancing drugs in today’s world, and they all have different uses and effects in the human body. For example, Anabolic steroids are one of the famous Performance enhancing drugs that have been introduced to people (Pat Lenehan, 2003, 2-3). Athletes and people use these drugs for different reasons such as muscle growth. The problem with these drugs is that they have a more negative effect than positive. But the companies deny these side effects because the scientist has not been able to make studies projects that can prove the long side effects of these drugs. This is because those who used these drugs long ago are in their 50s or 60s which makes them be considered as old. For this reason, the scientist cannot prove that these drugs have that side long term side effects because things such as cancer can happen because of old age.

These drugs do not only affect the competition, but performance enhacing drugs can also affect the user's health in many aspects. Most of these drugs are used to enhance athlete’s performance by increasing their muscle mass which can result in better functionality which means better oxygen uptake. But to be mentioned, the amount of usage of this drug is higher in males because most women do not desire a muscular body. To be mentioned, these people/athletes are doing this because they want to represent the social norm as female or male. They want to be seen as strong men that can do anything they want and the same goes for females. Research even shows those who start using these drugs could have been in an abusive childhood or relationship and they use this drug as a getaway. They take these drugs to change the identity that they come to hate because of those abuses, but the problem with this getaway is, that they are harming themselves even more (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).

The problem with these drugs is that it can be harmful to the human body if it is misused, they can even result in addiction. These drugs can result in cardiovascular problems such as heart attack, strokes, and even high blood pressure because as mentioned before, they make your muscles bigger and heart in one of the major muscles in our body. And the problem with these changes in cardiovascular system shape and activity is that after they stop working-out or stop doing competitive sports, their cardiovascular system does not match their state of activity which results in the problem mentioned (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). To add on, Performance enhancing drugs can even result in hormonal problems in men and women. For example, in men, one can see an increase in hair loss, reproduction problems such as testicular cancer, changes in body shape and form. For women, it can result in cancer, an increase in hair growth in different parts of the body, and even their voice can get deeper (national Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Despite all the negative effects, some of these drugs are used in today’s world to help people that do not feel they are in the right form or gender to be able to change their bodies to what they desire. Some of these drugs have opened a window for the LGBT community to make them feel safer and more accepted. The other problem with Performance enhancing drugs is that they can affect the user’s internal organs such as the liver. These drugs can be really heavy on organs if they are not taken by caution. They can cause musculoskeletal problems and skin rash or even cyst spots. Another huge problem with athletes/people using these drugs is that they do it in an unsafe area with unsafe material/products. Most of the users take these drugs without their physicians or coaches knowing which can result in HIV/AIDS and even hepatitis, and this is one of the cases that the negative effect would be irreversible. There have been studies that show that Performance enhancing drugs can even affect people’s behavior. The user tends to have a more aggressive approach and even after quitting the drug the aggressive behavior stays for a longer period. The biggest problem with these drugs is that most of the side effects can be permanent and there is nothing doctors can do about it. After all of these, some athletes still use these drugs and do not care about the consequences.

Despite all the data that has been shared into the internet, social media, and even by the news sources, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has been on the rise. The problem with these studies and shared data is that they are not randomized because that would not be ethical as the late side effects could be harmful and permanent. So to collect data, scientists study athletes/people that have already used these drugs and they are willing to share their story and experience (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). This type of study can be helpful but also can make the reader to second guess the results because they would be able to deny the negative impacts because they can be different from that one person with those negative impacts. For this reason, companies that produce these products take advantage of the research and deny all the negative effects (White and Noun, 2016).

The problem with performance-enhancing drugs does not end here. These drugs find their way to the stores and the internet, and there is not much real control over their sales. These drugs have been brought up to sports by athletes and companies, and now, young athletes and people are using them. These young athletes or people do not think about the consequences that come with performance-enhancing drugs because all they want is to be famous and considered an elite athlete. The use of these kinds of drug gets even worse when athletes get to the real pressure of the games and sports. This is why coaches and even parents' actions can affect some athlete’s motivation for taking these drugs or not. This is why athletes that use these drugs to become a bad example of this young generation. They make them think that they are not capable of doing things on their own without cheating their way up. These athletes and their mentality endanger these young athletes’ health and future (Haley, 2003).

Research shows that the way that schools and media are approaching this problem is not effective which makes athletes and people not to accept the facts. As the studies go, the scientist tries to focus on the negative effect of performance-enhancing drugs and ignore all the good effects. This is why in the new studies, these scientists are trying to come up with a more effective and more balance strategy to share their ideas about these drugs. They have found areas and reasons that these drugs can be useful to humans and they have shared their knowledge about the negative ones too. This way the study is not based on any bias information and it would be more believable for young athletes and people that see these studies (Pope et al, 2014). This is very similar to what we studying in our course. This shows that people show attention and attraction to ideas that they want to hear and understand but if these ideas do not follow their need they would ignore it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, performance-enhancing drugs do not have any positive impacts on sports and their only intentions are for cheating. This means these drugs inflict more negative impacts than positive when it gets to sports, and to be mentioned, these negative impacts are not only affecting the athlete that uses it, it passes on to viewers. Furthermore, these athletes result in the younger generation involved in these drugs. These athletes look up to these athletes and they see these drugs abuses and they take it as a norm. These drugs are not made to be taken by everyone and these young athletes are risking their life and childhood for fame and sports, and this goes against the true intention of sports. Sports used to be about healthy body and mind but now athletes only care about money and fame which makes these drugs a lot more relevant than they should be. This is why there have been new studies that are trying to put an end to this abuse and try to make sports more fair and reasonable. These studies are aiming to bring back the true intention of sports. To sum up, Performance enhancing drugs should be banned from sports because they provide an unfair/unequal circumstance, can result in serious health-related problems and set a bad example for young athletes and people.

Resources

• Haley, James. (2003). New York: Bonnie Szumski. DOI: 1. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4dcc/cd6f388a25d9959b5bbb1055f304044f11c3.pdf
• Lenehan, Pat. Anabolic Steroids and Other Performance-Enhancing Drugs. London ; Taylor & Francis, 2003. Print.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2018, February 21). Introduction. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/steroids-other-appearance-performance-enhancing-drugs-apeds/introduction
• Pope, H. G., Wood, R. I., Rogol, A., Nyberg, F., Bowers, L., & Bhasin, S. (2014). Adverse Health Consequences of PerformanceEnhancing Drugs: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4026349/
• Qvarfordt, A. Q., Hoff, D., Bäckström, Å., & Ahmadi, N. (2019). Performance Enhancement & Health. From Fighting the Bad to Protecting the Good: Legitimation Strategies in WADA’s Athlete Guides, 7(1-2), 1–9. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266919300234#!
• White, N. D., & Noeun, J. (2016, November 29). Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Adolescence. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC612503