Sport is one of the greatest expressions of human culture and endeavours that we have. It lifts the normal to the extraordinary, the mundane to the sublime, be it rugby, GAA, soccer, cycling or athletics.
The essence of sport celebrates the human spirit, body, and mind, and exemplifies values such as; ethics, fair play, honesty, health, excellence in performance, learning, character, passion, fun, teamwork, dedication, commitment, respect, courage, and community. I love sport, and I happen to coach U8 GAA and more latterly U8 Soccer and as you can guess I have a young boy who plays this age group, a reluctant player!
It hasn’t trickled down to the U8 (it has to some parents) yet but increasingly the allure of fame and wealth from sport creates a demand for getting an edge on your rivals, through the use of performance enhancing drugs. This demand is not new. Drug use in cycling and athletics was considered pandemic, and questions still remain.
The Olympics had a pedigree in drug use in 1976, the East German swimming team winning 11 out of 13 Olympic events, and later sued the government for giving them anabolic steroids. One of the concerning things is the research that found that Olympic athletes, in general, believed that most successful athletes were using banned substances.
I was always struck with the research that showed half of elite athletes said they would take an undetectable drug, if doing so meant they would win an Olympic gold medal, even if it would kill them within five years.
We do not have to look at Olympic athletes exclusively. I believe the use of performance enhancing drugs is expanding across recreational sport in the pursuit of the ‘win at all costs’ mentality. Worryingly, the stereotype view of the muscle bound athlete using anabolic steroids is erroneous as research is now showing that there is a trend of use for adolescents or adults concerned with their body shape or body fat distribution essentially for cosmetic reasons. Where have we seen concerns for this before?!
What are performance enhancing drugs?
A performance-enhancing substance is any substance taken to benefits sports performance by increasing strength, power, speed, or endurance or by altering body weight or body composition. Furthermore, substances that improve performance by causing changes in behaviour, arousal level, and/or perception of pain should be considered performance enhancing. These include:
- Stimulants (e.g. amphetamines, cocaine, and drugs)
- Anabolic-androgenic steroids (synthetic derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone)
- Hormones and related substances e.g. Erythropoietin EPO, Human growth hormone
Psychological and medical impact of anabolic steroids
Anabolic steroids help increase muscle mass and improve athletic performance. They mimic the effects of the male hormone testosterone. Particularly used in power sports, weightlifters and bodybuilders take them regularly to improve their physical performance and build up their bodies. Additionally anabolic steroids have been used by adolescent boys who suffer from body dysmorphia, an anxiety type presentation focused around body image.
Physical effects of anabolic steroids for men include; reduced sperm count, infertility, shrunken testicles, baldness, breast development, increased risk of developing prostate cancer, severe acne. In women anabolic steroids can cause; facial hair growth and body hair, loss of breasts, a deepened voice, an increased sex drive, problems with periods, hair loss and severe acne.
Finally, both men and women who take anabolic steroids can develop any of the following medical conditions: heart attack or stroke, liver or kidney tumours, high blood pressure, blood clots, fluid retention, and high cholesterol. In adolescence, anabolic steroids use can permanently restrict growth.
One of the key psychological impacts of performance enhancing drugs is addiction i.e. craving the drug, require more to get the same effect and having withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly stop taking them.
Psychological effects of anabolic steroids include explosive aggressive behaviour known as ‘Roid Rage’, significant mood swings, manic behaviour, hallucinations and delusions. Coming off anabolic steroids suddenly can result in withdrawals symptoms including depression and apathy, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, anorexia, decreased sex drive, fatigue (extreme tiredness), headaches, muscle and joint pains. Because the use of performance enhancing drugs is underground and illegal the long term consequences could be described as a hidden iceberg.
While listing these effect, it’s is very easy to gloss over them. The impact on relationships and family life are catastrophic.
Finally, it’s worth considering that athletes don’t take these drugs to level the playing field, they do it to get an advantage. A vicious cycle of upping dosages to get a bigger advantage happens. At risk groups – young impressionable adolescents, those on verge of prestigious teams in prestigious schools, girls and boys, and men and women concerned with body image. The net is widening for those using performance enhancing drugs.
People take these risks as it’s similar to immediate gratification – the payoff in the now; fame, image and money – and the long term consequences are minimised. It’s impossible to police this drug use and cleaning up sport is unachievable I believe, as the risk of being caught is reducing, as ‘poachers are ahead of the game-keepers’. As undetectable drugs enter into the fray, more and more athletes will choose to cheat.
Indeed the next evolution is genetic manipulation/enhancement which will allow greater performance and less detectability and a slew of unintended and unknown consequences.
The challenge is for role models, parents and coaches to influence positively the values of sport; – to win with humility and lose with dignity; working towards encouragement and enjoyment and the value of sport towards honest endeavour, leadership and team building.
Themes that influence positively the individual and society.
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