STEROIDS

Steroids in the Media



Steroids in the Media

Introduction

The impact of performance-enhancing drugs in the world of athleticism is garnering more attention than the games that the athletes play. No longer in the locker rooms of muscular professional male athletes, performance-enhancing drugs have infiltrated their way into the lives of both the young and the old, the professional and the aspiring athlete. Drug use among athletes has grown from occasional speculation to full-blown federal investigations. The media have carved a space to inform the public of the result of various athletes suspected drug use whether it be performance enhancing or merely recreational in nature. The term doping refers to the use of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that are used to improve cardiovascular endurance, muscle size, or both. Doping, or juicing, as it is sometimes called, has garnered attention in the general public, but up until 2003, there were fewer than 30 empirical studies in the area of athletes and drug use. Performance-enhancing drugs, anabolic steroids or their derivatives, usually refer to the following classes of drugs (Naylor, 2001).

Organization Of The Research

This section of Introduction will be followed by respective parts literature review, organization of the resaerch, research methodology, analysis and findings, discussion and that last section is recommendations and conclusion.

Literature Review

This class of drugs includes artificial growth hormones and testosterone-enhanced steroids. Stimulants are used by athletes in an effort to increase speed, overall endurance, and attention span while training. Drugs classified as stimulants activate the central nervous system to an increased level of functioning and raise the metabolic processes in the body. Analgesic drugs, drugs that eliminate or mask pain symptoms, are used to assist athletes with acute and chronic pain conditions that result from overtraining or improper training. Muscle relaxers are often used to calm the tension in an athlete's body that usually results from sprains and strains associated with a high level of sport performance. Diuretics are frequently used by athletes in an effort to control bloating and weight associated with water retention (Levine, 2004).

Research Methodology

One of many publicized current issues about drug abuse in recent times was the admission by baseball celebrity Jose Canseco that many of the athletes in major league baseball were doping. The prevalence of such drug use continued to be a media spotlight as Olympic athletes and athletes from all sports and levels, including high school, middle school, and college, ...