Addictive and Unhealthy Behaviors in Sports

Anabolic Steroid use has been a hot topic in the media recently now that more athletes are coming forward and admitting or getting caught using these performance enhancing drugs. Anabolic steroids are used to gain and maintain more muscle mass, and to improve overall athletic performance. When athletes use steroids they might believe that steroids will give them a "winning edge," in developing their power and strength, and increase recovery from heavy workouts. Studies have found that athletes rationalized their use by trying to justify that using steroids caused no harm either to themselves or to others. Also, individuals perceived their competitors were taking anabolic drugs, so they needed to use to compete at the same level.

Surveys and anecdotal evidence indicate that the rate of non-medical steroid use may be increasing. Reports of steroid use indicate that between 250,000 and 1 million individuals use. According to research studies more than 300,000 used steroids during one year. The National Institute of Health (1999) reported that 2.9% of 12th graders used steroids.

There are serious health risks associated with the use of anabolic steroids such as:

• cancer of the liver, prostate, kidney
• reduction in HDL the "good" cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• enlarged prostate
• liver damage
• aggressive behavior
• post-use depression
• aching joints
• injury to tendons, ligaments, and muscles
• blood coagulation disorders
• HIV disease from sharing needles
• acne, swelling of feet or ankles
• nosebleeds
• heart arrhythmia's
• stunted growth in immature individuals
• breast growth in males

Recent evidence suggests that long-time steroid users and steroid abusers may experience the classic characteristics of addiction including cravings, difficulty in stopping steroid use and withdrawal symptoms.

Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is the abuse of any narcotic whether it be a street drug or the abuse of prescription drugs, or alcohol. There are many factors which contribute to the abuse of these drugs some include:

• Stress factors; some athletes feel overwhelming pressure and look for substances to relieve some of that pressure
• Peer pressure; athletes are faced with a huge change in environment and just as with any star drugs are readily available and are widely accepted and used
• Prescription pain medication; when athletes get injured they are typically put on some form of pain medication and some end up becoming dependent and addicted to the pain medications.
• Alcohol; because alcohol is legal it is that much easier to become dependent on it. One might be a social drinker and suddenly become more dependent on it than intended
• Tobacco Use; this is common especially in baseball; smokeless tobacco is chewed and can be just as damaging to the body as tobacco smoking, which can lead to cancer.

There are a lot of factors which contribute to these behaviors and unfortunately they can include;

• Coaches
• Environment
• Pressure
• Performance Enhancement
• Self-esteem
• Body Dismorphia

There are some ways of testing and spotting these behaviors such as drug testing, sport psychologists, and sports medicine teams can be helpful in detecting abnormal behavior, abnormal weight loss/gain, mood swings, and other signs of addictive and unhealthy behaviors. This is not a new topic in sports. For decades we have seen these behaviors and unfortunately due to the rising level of competition athletes are more tempted to try these methods to get an edge over their competition. We are also seeing some of the real adverse affects of these unhealthy behaviors in athletes and their health complications. If we look at some of the bodybuilders from the 70s, most have had heart attacks, died or have serious health complications that is from their use of anabolic steroids. Elite gymnast Christy Henrich suffered from Anorexia Nervosa and also died from it. The scariest part of these addictive and unhealthy behaviors is that even with all of the research that has been done and the information that is out there with proven evidence of the serious and even fatal medical complications that can arise, athletes will and are still turning to these methods and substances to enhance performance and gain that edge!

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