Taking steroids has always been controversial news that makes headlines in sports when athletes or bodybuilders take them illicitly. What these athletes or bodybuilders take are called anabolic steroids, which they use to increase their muscle mass. However, anabolic steroids should not be confused with corticosteroids, which are used to reduce inflammation in one’s body. This steroid is usually used to treat ailments such as arthritis, asthma, lupus, etc. The focus of this article is the disadvantages of anabolic steroids.
Anabolic steroids are popular among athletes and bodybuilders because it is a performance-enhancing drug. Now, other drugs that claim to be alternative to steroids, but this is yet needed to be studied further.
Risk of Heart Disease
Studies show that using steroids together with strenuous workout can increase blood pressure and the enlargement of the size of your left ventricle, which might increase the chances and risk of getting a heart condition or a stroke.
Infertility
Taking steroids has the potential to decrease sperm production, and for females, it could lead to hormonal imbalance and disrupts their menstrual cycle, so it has the potential to lead to infertility.
Mood Swings
Steroids have been connected to psychological effects as well, such as aggression, depression, and mania.
Addiction
Because of what these drugs can do to your body, how it improves your skills, on your body can become stronger faster and even bigger with just a short amount of time, it can be addictive to use this drug.
Risk of Health Conditions
There is an increased risk of getting illnesses related to kidney, liver, or prostate.
Dehydration
Steroids do not retain water; hence you could suffer serious dehydration, and you can also be prone to cramps, dizziness, and exhaustion.
Physical Appearance
In men, it can cause male pattern baldness and breast formation. In women, it can do the opposite, which is an increase in the growth of facial hair and excess body hair and decrease breast size.
These are just some of the mental and physical health risks of taking anabolic steroids and not considering that this drug is illegal. You can be incriminated for possession and selling of steroids, and athletes and bodybuilders who are proven to be using this drug is automatically banned from competitions.