Everyone looks at steroids as a harmful substance due to what the media puts out there. Anabolic steroids do not have to be harmful; if you have done your research and know how to use them correctly, they can be used safely.
People are always talking about how
steroids are looked down upon and how bad they are to the body, but are they
really? According to the Center of Disease Control, the 2012 statistics state that tobacco kills on average 443,000
people a year, alcohol kills 75,000 a year, and anabolic steroids kill 3
people a year. The three that have died
from anabolic steroids either died from taking too much at a time or stayed on
the cycle for too long. Another thing
that could have caused their deaths is if they were not using clean needles,
this would cause infections inside the body.
Yes, there are serious side effects to using steroids, but there are also serious side effects to almost everything we do.
Anabolic steroids are a synthetic
steroid hormone that resembles testosterone in promoting the growth of muscle. These steroids can either be taken orally or injected
into the muscle. Whichever form one may
do, they must be taken intermittently and not continuously. If one was to take steroids continuously and
never stop, the body would eventually stop producing its own natural testosterone
(NIDA, 2012). When you take them intermittently,
it is called cycling, and you would use the steroids for weeks at a time and
then cycle off for a couple weeks to allow your natural testosterone levels
rise back to normal (NIDA, 2012).
Steroids are not addictive but they can be abused. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, users may combine several different types of steroids to maximize their
effectiveness and this procedure is called stacking. Another way to abuse steroids is to use them
continuously. If you do not cycle off
steroids, it will eventually start to harm your internal organs and your body
will soon be prone to the drug. This
leads people to use more steroids than ever before because their bodies stopped
reacting to the normal dosage.
Oral steroids are more harmful to the body than the
injectable steroid. Oral steroids are
broken down through the liver and other organs.
This is very toxic and causes the majority of negative effects. If one chooses to take oral steroids, they
must also take a liver support along with other organ support vitamins. Injectable steroids are broken down through
the blood stream so it is not as hard on the body. You should still take liver support along
with taking a prostate support when using injectable steroids.
There are a few side effects associated with using
anabolic steroids. The most widely known
side effect is the shrinkage of the testicles.
When you cycle off the steroids, they will go back to normal so it is not
a permanent effect (Wilairat, 2005). The
other main side effect is gynecomastia.
This is when estrogen builds up behind the males nipple, it forms a lump
the pushes the nipple outward (Wilairat, 2005).
Another side effect is reduced sperm count. With this one, if you cycle off for a period
of time before using again your sperm count will go back to normal but if you never
cycle off, you may become infertile. If
baldness runs in your family, steroids may make you go bald faster than if you were not using. These are a few reasons to why most people think steroids are a bad thing.
Now for the positive side effects to using anabolic
steroids. Steroids can help with minor
aches and pains, to helping breast cancer victims (Gutzler, 2009). Yes, steroids help with muscle growth and
strength, but they can also help with academic improvement as well. Steroids can help improve mental alertness
and mental edge (Vassallo, 2010). If you are competing or training for a sport, steroids will help give you that extra drive
to perform at your best. Steroids can
also help with building confidence in those who are using (Vassallo, 2010). They will see improvement in their strength as well as their appearance, which will give them that extra confidence they might be looking for.
According to Chris Stevens, in his article,
“Steroids in pro sports? Maybe it’s time to say yes,” states that he believes steroids
should be legalized. He thinks if they
become legal in all sports, athletes will stop trying to “cheat” and beat the system
and then it would then eliminate all the lying.
I personally agree with this because there are already a lot of pro
athletes using steroids and people are considering it cheating. In all reality, it is just helping them
perform better. If it was legalized then
every athlete has the choice to do it. If they do not want to, they do not have
to but they cannot complain that others are.
Bodybuilders especially get a bad reputation for using steroids. Steroids do not make people look like that,
the majority of it is based on their genetic design; steroids just help push
them a little further. Everyone thinks it is just an easy way out to get big muscles. Not
just anyone can take steroids and expect to look like a pro bodybuilder; it
just does not work that way.
Let's talk about some pro bodybuilders. Jay Curler for example, has won the Mr. Olympia several times. In order to make it that far you have to take steroids because there is no natural way to get that big. He and his wife have two children. Arnold Schwarzenegger has also been Mr. Olympia several times and he has used steroids since his twenties and he has five children. Branch Warren is another pro bodybuilder, he has never won the Mr. Olympia but he has used steroids for many years and he has a child as well. So hearing that these men have used steroids for the majority of their adult lives and have children goes to show that if steroids are used correctly, they will not make you infertile.
Other pro athletes use steroids as well. Think back several years ago to when they started cracking down on major league baseball players. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield all went to court for the use of steroids. Nothing bad every happened to them, they just wanted that extra push to help them play their favorite sport a little better. There are several NFL players as well that have admitted to using steroids. Charlie Waters, Randy White, Steve McMichael, and Lyle Alzado were a few players all from different teams that used steroids. Steroid use has always been around in sports whether you want to believe it or not. I believe since athletes are already using them, with no horrible side effects, why not make it legal so they do not have to hide it from everyone. Banning steroids and making them illegal is not going to stop people from using them.
Let's talk about some pro bodybuilders. Jay Curler for example, has won the Mr. Olympia several times. In order to make it that far you have to take steroids because there is no natural way to get that big. He and his wife have two children. Arnold Schwarzenegger has also been Mr. Olympia several times and he has used steroids since his twenties and he has five children. Branch Warren is another pro bodybuilder, he has never won the Mr. Olympia but he has used steroids for many years and he has a child as well. So hearing that these men have used steroids for the majority of their adult lives and have children goes to show that if steroids are used correctly, they will not make you infertile.
Other pro athletes use steroids as well. Think back several years ago to when they started cracking down on major league baseball players. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield all went to court for the use of steroids. Nothing bad every happened to them, they just wanted that extra push to help them play their favorite sport a little better. There are several NFL players as well that have admitted to using steroids. Charlie Waters, Randy White, Steve McMichael, and Lyle Alzado were a few players all from different teams that used steroids. Steroid use has always been around in sports whether you want to believe it or not. I believe since athletes are already using them, with no horrible side effects, why not make it legal so they do not have to hide it from everyone. Banning steroids and making them illegal is not going to stop people from using them.
Now should steroids be legalized? I say yes. If steroids were to be made legal, you would not have athletes going behind everyone’s back and lying about it. There is no life threatening side effect to using steroids if you know what you are doing and do it correctly. Like I said at the beginning, there are only three people on average a year that have died from steroids but yet hundreds of thousands of people die a year from tobacco and alcohol and it is still being sold in the market. I encourage all of you to watch the documentary I have include below. The video may help you see the good and not the bad associated with steroids.
References
Centers for Disease
Control. (2012). Mortality Rates. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov
Documentary For Everyone. (2014).
Steroids in sports – anabolic steroids – the best documentary. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULheM4MEb7I
Gutzler, Christa M. (2009). Testes to
testy: a look at anabolic steroids. Nutrition
Health Review: The Consumer’s Medical Journal, (100), 4-7. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
National Institute on Drug Abuse.
(2012). Anabolic steroids. Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/anabolicsteroids
The Journal of Physiology. (2014).
Muscles may permanently “remember” steroids. Science Teacher, 81(2), 18-19. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
Stevens,
Chris. (2013). Steroids in pro sports? Maybe it’s time to say ‘yes’. Midland Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.ourmidland.com/sports
Vassallo, Mario J., and Olrich, Tracy
W. (2010). Confidence by injection: male users of anabolic steroids speak of
increases in perceived confidence through anabolic steroid use. International Journal of Sport &
Exercise Psychology, 8(1), 70-80. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
Wilairat, Adrian. (2005). Faster,
higher, stronger? Federal efforts to criminalize anabolic steroids and steroid
precursors. Journal of Health Care Law
& Policy, 8(2), 377-408. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
I thought your post was very interesting. I have never considered the debate over steroids and their legalization. You gave many valid examples of why they should be legalized. One statistic that caught my eye was that only 3 people a year were killed by steroids. This number is very small compared to those killed by tobacco and alcohol. It makes you wonder why these things are still legal and steroids aren’t. I am not saying that this is a perfect reason to legalize steroids, but it does raise a question. Even though you give many valid reasons why they should become legalized, I have to disagree overall. I feel that a common user would not know how to safely and correctly use steroids, leading to more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteKaci,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up some interesting points about why steroids should be legalized, but I have to completely disagree with you. Steroids harm your liver, decrease your natural testosterone levels, and reduce your sperm count. They are also banned in sports because it would give other athletes an unfair advantage over the athletes who want to stay natural and not use the drug. Random drug tests have basically eliminated the use of the drug in pro and collegiate sports. I think it would not be fair to legalize the use of steroids. Not only would it be unfair to athletes, it would also harm their bodies because not everyone would use the drug the way it is supposed to be used.
Found this blog post to be interesting since I wrote a blog on performance-enhancing drugs emphasizing on steroids. Like you said, steroids is not harmful to the human body as long as the person uses it correctly. That means they should be checked for health risks, like liver cancer, since steroids are processed through your liver. In which case, steroids will just aid in the cancer process. However, I think steroids should still be regulated. There are many steroids that are beneficial in performance, but extremely harmful to the body. So I agree, professional athletes under a doctors supervision should be allowed to make this mature, possibly career and life-threatening decision.
ReplyDeleteIm glad someone wrote about this. I agree that they should be legalized on the fact that we allow people to participate in other activities that are life threatening like you mentioned with tobacco and alcohol. Although, I don't agree with its use in sports, it has been shown to give people an athletic edge and I think sports need to be kept as natural as possible. Im not saying that if I took steroids I could be a pro, it would just take the excitement out of what the human body can do. Just like anything there are different versions of the substance. Only thing I feel this article needed was more medical resources and studies. Great article to start a heated discussion among fitness enthusiast.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this article was very interesting especially because I used to be an athlete and still continue to workout today. You made some very good points and I completely agree with using steroids in cycles because they are a very potent substance and without breaks in between they can become very harmful. I do not know if making them legal for athletes would be a good idea though. I think once you involve steroids with competition or even someones job, such as a professional athlete, things could become very dangerous. Some people would be willing to take or inject more than recommended to just get the edge on the competition so for this reason alone I am against that. After reading this article, I would have liked to hear about some of the possible negatives of steroids more in depth because I know there is some and without these points it makes your argument seem very biased.
ReplyDeleteI think the information you brought up in regards to steroids to being interesting in justifying its use and as to how if used properly can avoid some of the bad side effects that are become regularly associated with the drug. An issue I would have personally liked addressed is in regards to steroid usage with people with past histories of mental health issues because some research that have come out that people who have had past history of mental issues when using steroids are the ones who are prone to experience roid rage then someone who has not history of mental issues.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do agree that the use of steroids can have positive effects on the chronically ill or people who are battling a serious disease, the use of steroids for recreation is specifically outlawed for a reason. It was mentioned that using steroids, specifically in sports, would allow for people to reach their potential. However, if they achieve their goals using drugs, can it really be said that the goal was met on their own natural ability? In addition, legalized use of steroids would encourage more people to participate in them in order to keep up with the competition. This could potentially have detrimental effects; since people would begin to see steroids as necessary if they were legalized, it would increase the likelihood of abuse, eventually leading to permanent impairments and irreversible damage on the individual’s body.
ReplyDeleteOverall I enjoyed your article. I agree that there are both positives and negatives in the use of steroids. However, I disagree with you in the idea that they should be allowed in sports. I know that it is currently illegal so athletes do cheat to gain an edge, but leagues and people high up the chain in that sport are striving to level the playing field for all the athletes. Forgetting about what the side effects of steroids do, the health risks in sports, especially football, are too high. When some of those big linebackers or defensive linemen such as Suh get on steroids and hit someone, it can be very dangerous for the player on the receiving end. You say they can choose not to do steroids, and in my opinion the playing field is not remotely close to even anymore. I believe people should use them at their own risk (making them legal), but sports should still stay firm in their stance against steroids.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article. I agree that steroid use should be allowed in sports. It doesn't seem like they are catching everyone that is using them to enhance their performance anyways, so it the system is very unfair for those non users in the same sports as users. Athletes have to train super hard and dedicate a lot of time to their sport in order to be the best at it and I think that if steroids are banned and some find a way to get away with taking them while others don't is an unfair advantage. Now if they still chose not to take them, good for that person. As for the non sport users or just the average individual I don't see why we shouldn't be able to take them to improve our body and goals. We allow alcohol in our society which does nothing useful for us in my opinion, but steroids can help one achieve lifting goals and make them feel better about their self.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article. I agree that steroid use should be allowed in sports. It doesn't seem like they are catching everyone that is using them to enhance their performance anyways, so it the system is very unfair for those non users in the same sports as users. Athletes have to train super hard and dedicate a lot of time to their sport in order to be the best at it and I think that if steroids are banned and some find a way to get away with taking them while others don't is an unfair advantage. Now if they still chose not to take them, good for that person. As for the non sport users or just the average individual I don't see why we shouldn't be able to take them to improve our body and goals. We allow alcohol in our society which does nothing useful for us in my opinion, but steroids can help one achieve lifting goals and make them feel better about their self.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article and found it very interesting. I do agree that steriods are not harmful to the body as long as they are used correctly and some what controlled. However, I do disagree with steriods being legalized. I agree with Ryan when he said that some athletes would want to take more than the recommended amount. I think no matter what athletes are going to want to push those boundaries and if steriods become legal i think we would have a bigger issue to deal with. Over all I thought this article was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteGreat post
ReplyDeleteSteroids In Sport: Should They Be Legal?