Steroids are commonly used by baseball players to help their muscles grow and better their performance. The association for baseball has a plan to eradicate its use, and urge the players to pursue healthy diet programs and workout routines. In the earlier years, there was no use of steroids. However, a lot of changes occurred in the early 1990s, and the drug was incorporated into the game (Balcavage, 2012). Baseball players should avoid using steroids to evade its negative effects despite having some positive impacts.
Steroids are beneficial to baseball players as it enables their muscles to grow. This is through their effect of multiplying the content of nitrogen in the body. Consequently, proteins are produced in large quantities leading to high levels of muscle development. Also, steroids help increase the performance of the players. Their use increases stamina and energy levels. Hence, players can achieve new limits while training. Moreover, steroids are beneficial as they help lower fat content in their bodies (Lau, 2014). This is alleged to the increased rates of metabolism resulting from its use.
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Steroids negatively affect baseball players by disturbing their brains. This is through increasing their anxiety levels, making them lose sleep, and increasing their paranoia levels. Another negative effect is causing high levels of water retention among the users. This makes their cheeks puffy and faces round. Steroids also damage their eyes permanently if used for long by causing disorders like glaucoma and cataract impairing their ability to play. Additionally, steroids lead to hair damage by facilitating the secretion of dihydrotestosterone, which weakens hair follicles. Hence, only fine hair is produced resulting in permanent hair loss. Another negative effect of steroids is causing heart complications for the players (Balcavage, 2012). They lead to diseases of the heart by causing cholesterol to accumulate to high levels covering the walls of blood vessels. This might result in deadly heart strokes. Also, steroids cause blood pressure to increase, and the chances of occurrence of blood clots in blood vessels are also high with their use. Hence, the chances of experiencing a heart attack are high among the baseball players who use them.
Steroids lead to stomach complications including bloating for the players. Moreover, nausea and vomiting traces of blood are experienced. Since steroids are known to impair the immune system, the players using them face the challenge of severe exposure to diseases ruining their ability to play due to frequent infections. Furthermore, the tendons and muscles of the players using steroids experience tears. This is because steroids give someone a false feeling of strength making them do strenuous physical tasks, which in a real sense they are incapable of (Lau, 2014). Similarly, the hastened strengthening of the muscles by steroids causes the tendons to cave in due to pressure resulting in ruptures. Therefore, a player experiences pain and fails to play well.
In conclusion, steroids have few benefits to baseball players as compared to the negatives. Steroids change the players and destroy their lives rapidly. Despite helping one’s muscles to grow faster, increase their performance, and lower their fat content, they have many adverse side effects. For instance, causing damage to their brains, eyes, hair loss, and heart complications. Also, it causes bloating, impairs the immune system, and causes muscle tears. Therefore, baseball players should not opt for them but should realize that many legendary players made great impressions without using the steroids. They only give short-term results in the enhancement their performance. They have to be used each time one has a tournament or goes for practice. Using them for long results into distressing results and ends up ruining their career and life. Players should change and avoid their use. They should go for good workout programs, which improve their performance.
References
Balcavage, D. (2012). Steroids (5th Ed.). Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
Lau, D. (2014). Steroids (3rd Ed.). New York: Rosen Central
