Performance-enhancing drugs
Encyclopedia
Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performances in the sports in which they engage.

Types of performance-enhancing drugs

Although the phrase performance-enhancing drugs is used in reference to anabolic steroids or their precursors, world anti-doping organizations apply the term broadly. The phrase has been used to refer to several distinct classes of drugs:
  • Lean mass builders are used to drive or amplify the growth of muscle and lean body mass
    Body composition
    In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in human bodies. Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness...

    , and sometimes to reduce body fat. This class of drugs includes anabolic steroids, beta-2 agonists, selective androgen receptor modulator
    Selective androgen receptor modulator
    Selective androgen receptor modulators or SARMs are a novel class of androgen receptor ligands. They are intended to have the same kind of effects as androgenic drugs like anabolic steroids but be much more selective in...

    s (SARMs), and various human hormones, most notably human growth hormone, as well as some of their precursors.
  • Stimulants are used to stimulate their body and mind to perform at optimal level by increasing focus, energy and aggression. Examples include caffeine
    Caffeine
    Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

    , amphetamine
    Amphetamine
    Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

    , and methamphetamine
    Methamphetamine
    Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

    .
  • Painkillers mask athletes' pain so they can continue to compete and perform beyond their usual pain thresholds. Blood pressure
    Blood pressure
    Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...

     is increased causing the cells in the muscles to be better supplied with vital oxygen. Painkillers used by athletes range from common over-the-counter
    Over-the-counter drug
    Over-the-counter drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription...

     medicines such as NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen
    Ibuprofen
    Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for relief of symptoms of arthritis, fever, as an analgesic , especially where there is an inflammatory component, and dysmenorrhea....

    ) to powerful prescription narcotic
    Narcotic
    The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...

    s.
  • Sedatives are sometimes used by athletes in sports like archery
    Archery
    Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

     which require steady hands and accurate aim, and also by athletes attempting to overcome excessive nervousness or discomfort. Alcohol, valium and marijuana
    Cannabis (drug)
    Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

     are examples.
  • Diuretics expel water from athletes' bodies. They are often used by athletes such as wrestlers
    Wrestling
    Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

    , who need to meet weight restrictions. Many stimulants also have secondary
    Therapeutic effect
    A therapeutic effect is a consequence of a medical treatment of any kind, the results of which are judged to be desirable and beneficial. This is true whether the result was expected, unexpected, or even an unintended consequence of the treatment...

     diuretic effect.
  • Masking drugs are used to prevent the detection of other classes of drugs. These evolve as quickly as do testing methods - which is very quickly indeed - although a time-tested classic example is the use of epitestosterone
    Epitestosterone
    Epitestosterone is a natural steroid, an inactive epimer of the hormone testosterone. Structurally, it differs from testosterone only in the configuration at the OH-bearing carbon, C17...

    , a drug with no performance-enhancing effects, to restore the testosterone
    Testosterone
    Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

    /epitestosterone ratio (a common criterion in steroid testing) to normal levels after anabolic steroid supplementation.

Definition

The classification of substances as performance-enhancing drugs is not entirely clear-cut and objective. As in other types of categorization
Categorization
Categorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge...

, certain prototype
Prototype Theory
Prototype theory is a mode of graded categorization in cognitive science, where some members of a category are more central than others. For example, when asked to give an example of the concept furniture, chair is more frequently...

 performance enhancers that are universally classified as such (like anabolic steroids), whereas other substances (like vitamins and protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 supplements) are virtually never classified as performance enhancers despite their significant effects on athletes' performance. As is usual with categorization, there are borderline cases; caffeine
Caffeine
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

, for example, is considered a performance enhancer by some athletic authorities but not others.

See also

  • Bodybuilding
    Bodybuilding
    Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...

  • Anabolic steroid
    Anabolic steroid
    Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...

  • Steroid use in American football
    Steroid use in American football
    The use of performance enhancing drugs in the sport of American football has been an ongoing issue since the late 1980s, especially in the National Football League . The NFL began to test players for steroid use during the 1987 season, and started to issue suspensions to players during the 1989...

  • Ergogenic aid
    Ergogenic aid
    Ergogenic aids are any external influences that can be determined to enhance performance. These include mechanical aids , pharmacological aids, physiological aids, nutritional aids , and psychological aids....

  • Ergogenic use of anabolic steroids
    Ergogenic use of anabolic steroids
    Since their discovery, anabolic steroids have been widely used as an ergogenic aid to improve performance in sports, to improve one's physical appearance, as self-medication to recover from injury, and as an anti-aging aid....


External links

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