Cause and Effect: Steroids and Athletes

Phillip Ninan 10/25/2006

Mr. Astmann English

Cause and Effect: Steroids and Athletes.

There are so many different kinds of people who use steroids; mainly they are athletes who want to compete or kids who are trying it for the first time and other school athletes. Coaches in the gym take steroids so they will look more muscular and huge from those who are training. On the other side, some people who perform hard work like policeman, fireman uses steroids to be more energetic. Models, dancers, and movie stars all of them take steroids for a better image. Steroids have a medical use too. They help many patients who go through surgery; many others use steroids to fight problems resulting from HIV and AIDS. The use of steroids has some benefits, but if these benefits are taken advantage of than they can tarnish the competition of sports.

The sociological aspect is the main reason behind using steroids. So many athletes and people think that large and strong muscles will give them a "masculine" look. Others accept nothing but winning and this put a lot of pressure on them; in such cases, they start taking steroids. Other reason behind steroids use is that some school or college athletes are looking forward for a scholarship and steroids can help a lot. Moreover, people are concerned more with short-term results than long-term health consequences.

There is clear evidence that during hard training two things happen. First, the level of testosterone drops in the human body to the level of Castration. The other thing is that body release glucocrticoids which break down tissue. It can be conclude that over training may cause muscle decrease. As a result the importance of steroids use while training is increasing. Steroids help in increasing protein syntheses through its interaction with the targeted tissue. So after the DNA in the cell interact with the anabolic steroids that have reached through the blood, various enzyme, structural and contractile proteins formation take place. This also helps muscles too grow faster.

Athletes' performance and appearance after some doses of steroids will have such side effects as; an increase in appetite, aggression, energy and rapid recovery from workouts. All of this happens at the beginning of steroid use and without noticing any