Editorial Essay
The Affects of Doping
Have you ever looked at a professional athlete and wondered how they could possibly have such defined muscles in their arms, legs, and even their abdominal region. While I am watching any kind of professional bicycling event I wonder how these men and women could possibly have the endurance to bike for such a long time. Some of these athletes have a dark secret. The use of banned performance-enhancing drugs (PED) in sports, also referred to as doping, is on the rise not only in the professional sport world, but even with young and unsupervised athletes. Doping has become a problem since at least the 1960s according to Michael Shermer, journalist for the Huffington Post. Like most sport fans, I do not want to believe that any of my favorite athletes are guilty of participating in any kind of illegal activity, like doping. Of course everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but the immense amount of evidence that is being collected leads me to conclude that many, perhaps most, professional athletes are doping. So why do athletes dope? It is simple, the drugs are working and showing instant progress, the battle between drug takers and drug testers is steadily won by the dopers, and the athletes who might get caught are not receiving punishments at a sufficient level.
The Drugs. There are over 190 banned performance-enhancing drugs that are illegal for athletes to take. The five most common are: steroids, human growth hormones, anabolic, stimulants, and some supplements. Steroids are the most common PEDs in the professional athlete world. They are artificial hormones that can improve muscle mass and strength. Steroids can be taken an injection, a pill, or even powder. Human growth hormones (HGH) are taken to enhance endurance and strength. Like steroids, human growth hormones are administrated by an injection. However, HGH is available by prescription only. Anabolic are a type of synthetic steroid that stimulate proteins that help build
Have you ever looked at a professional athlete and wondered how they could possibly have such defined muscles in their arms, legs, and even their abdominal region. While I am watching any kind of professional bicycling event I wonder how these men and women could possibly have the endurance to bike for such a long time. Some of these athletes have a dark secret. The use of banned performance-enhancing drugs (PED) in sports, also referred to as doping, is on the rise not only in the professional sport world, but even with young and unsupervised athletes. Doping has become a problem since at least the 1960s according to Michael Shermer, journalist for the Huffington Post. Like most sport fans, I do not want to believe that any of my favorite athletes are guilty of participating in any kind of illegal activity, like doping. Of course everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but the immense amount of evidence that is being collected leads me to conclude that many, perhaps most, professional athletes are doping. So why do athletes dope? It is simple, the drugs are working and showing instant progress, the battle between drug takers and drug testers is steadily won by the dopers, and the athletes who might get caught are not receiving punishments at a sufficient level.
The Drugs. There are over 190 banned performance-enhancing drugs that are illegal for athletes to take. The five most common are: steroids, human growth hormones, anabolic, stimulants, and some supplements. Steroids are the most common PEDs in the professional athlete world. They are artificial hormones that can improve muscle mass and strength. Steroids can be taken an injection, a pill, or even powder. Human growth hormones (HGH) are taken to enhance endurance and strength. Like steroids, human growth hormones are administrated by an injection. However, HGH is available by prescription only. Anabolic are a type of synthetic steroid that stimulate proteins that help build