Do Performance Enhancing Drugs Work?
Competition is innate within social groups. It provides people with motivation, determination, and willpower. People become obsessed with the idea of winning and some will do anything to get the victory.
Those who compete in athletics know how the game is played better than anyone.
Sports culture varies depending on location. Regardless, athletic social groups like football and baseball depend on each other to get the victory adding pressure to the members of the group.
The thought of losing ignites dysphoria while winning brings players into complete euphoria.
When the pressure is too heavy, the injury hurts too much, or when the stakes are stacked too tall, it can influence athletes to find a means to cope with those endeavors.
This is where some performance enhancing drugs start to make their appearance.
Stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin boost energy, focus, motivation, and aggression while also giving a false perspective of invincibility. This pushes the player to go past their limits and potentially injure themselves or in another sense, push past the feeling of pain putting themselves at risk for greater injury.
Opioids block pain and help treat injury leading one to believe that they can simply take painkillers and continue competing, which can possibly lead to greater injury as well.
People forget that these drugs are used for a specific purpose and that they should only be used temporarily.
Painkillers should only be used when one cannot withstand the pain of an injury or Adderall should be taken when treating ADHD. The benefits of these drugs are temporary and eventually, one will plateau and begin falling behind in their performance.
It is understandable to see why athletes would use drugs to enhance their performance. The thought of letting the team or rather the people of the town down is stressful, to say the least. But, competition is a channel to push one’s self in a healthy manner towards benefiting oneself.
Those who lose learn more from those who win.
