Steroids - Discussion and Analysis - Research Paper Example

Section/# Steroids: A Discussion and Analysis As has been seen from the recent news regarding the athlete Lance Armstrong, the extent to which performance enhancing drugs and steroids in particular, can affect the way that an athlete ultimately performs is of extreme importance. This important understanding can further be related within the realm of how society ultimately places the athletes it identifies with. In such a frame of reference, athletes are expected to have achieved whatever fame, glory, or shame they exhibit based solely upon the belief that their own hard work affected such a performance. In this way, the athletes struggle, and perpetual desire to perform at the height of their abilities is how the spectator believes they integrate with the game or performance in question. Sadly, as has been exhibited over the past few decades, athletes are more than willing to go beyond the bounds of ethics and morality and dope themselves with performance enhancing drugs/steroids as a function to perform beyond the abilities that normal training and everyday dedication can yield. Such a decision has more than one set of drawbacks. As such, the first of these is the moral and ethical drawback that the athlete is ultimately not achieving whatever level of success they do based upon their own natural abilities but rather based upon the unnatural and unethical use of chemicals that do not exist within their body. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the fact that the athletes are doing irrevocable harm to their bodies for but a few brief moments of hoped fame that this will engender. Accordingly, this brief essay will seek to discuss and draw a level of inference upon these two factors as a way of understanding what the effects of steroid use can ultimately portend for the athlete’s morality as well as general health. Firstly, the issue of morality and ethics must be considered. This particular consideration is important due not only to the fact that the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs allows the athlete to perform beyond his/her natural abilities but due to the fact that the use of these substances represents a dishonest image of the sportsman to the end spectator and/or viewer (Stephan, 2007). This is not truly the singular fault of the athlete but also a fault of the way in which our current society seeks to place its athletes and celebrities on something of a pedestal of perfection. In such a sense, it becomes inconceivable for society to understand that the athlete, something of the current idol and/or god, could behave in a way that is unseemly. This measure of disbelief followed by keen disappointment is what has most facilitated the discussion of performance enhancing drugs and ultimately made the topic of this paper something that society is aware of. Although it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the ways in which psychological interpretations of the athlete have become warped, steroids have no doubt played an important role in this progression (Nathan, 2006). Secondly, the reader should of course examine the physical repercussions of steroid use. Whereas the previous information listed impacts upon society, its level of trust and belief in the system of athletics that is presented to it, and the level of dishonesty that the given athlete is comfortable presenting to the audience, the issue of health applies only to the individual athlete as it is their own health that they are jeopardizing by taking performance enhancing drugs such as steroids (George, 2005). It should of course be understood that although steroids can have a powerful effect on the way in which an athlete performs and can greatly benefit their ability to pack on the additional pounds and or muscle mass that the game in question requires (Chris, 2008). However, with such an abilities come at the marked tradeoffs that its detrimental effects on the overall user necessarily portend. Although many athletes and individuals are aware of the short term affects that steroid use can cause, i.e. acne, aggression, and an increased sex drive, these pale in comparison to the long term effects that are ultimately exhibited within the body of a steroid user. These include but are not limited to liver failure, cardiovascular problems, growth issues, weight problems and neurological issues. The reason why these health drawbacks appear so broad is due to the fact that the underlying commonality is with regards to the way that the human body reacts to and with the introduction of increased levels of hormones. Ultimately, all types of steroids are hormonal derivatives. Accordingly, the human body does not “understand” how to integrate this influx of unnatural hormones and seeks to do so by increasing its own production of estrogen or testosterone as a means to balance such an introduction (Lee, 2001). Likewise, this causes the body to be in a state of confusion where it begins by trying to counteract this influx of unnatural hormones and ultimately ends by these hormonal disparities being exhibited in a wide array of health problems. As with any unnatural substance that is continually introduced to the human organism, steroids and performance enhancing drugs serve to shutdown and irreparably damage the body’s natural systems; ultimately having a profound and severe effect on many internal elements and derivatives of health. As has been analyzed, the affects of steroid use and abuse among athletes, and the general population for that matter, have both ethical and physiological repercussions. As a result of both of these factors, it is little surprise that the stigma associated with steroid use continues to be so strong. Similarly, as has been mentioned in the first section of this essay, one cannot fully blame the athlete with regards to the extent that widespread steroid use exists within the current system. Due to the high pressure and idolization as well as unbelievably high paychecks that these athletes earn for their performance, it is only rational to assume that they will actively seek out and utilize any and all avenues to improve their performance. Far from being an excuse for this type of behavior, this should merely help the reader understand the root cause and underlying reason why such a situation exists within athletes in the current system. References Chris, B. (director). (2008). Movie: Bigger Stronger Faster. Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1151309/ George, S. (2005, Feb. 25). Schwarzenegger Has No Regrets About Steroid Use. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Health/story?id=532456 Lee F. M. (2001). Bodybuilding, drugs, and risk. London: Routledge. Nathan, J. (2006). Dunks, doubles, doping : How steroids are killing American athletics. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press. Stefan,K. (2007). Steroids. Farmington hills, MI: Greenhaven Press. Read More