(MUSCLE) MASS HYSTERIA?

Steroids…
When you hear that word or see it written down on a page I’m pretty sure you will end up with the mental image of some bald, red in the face genetic freak, with every single muscle in the body bulging like something from ‘Hellraiser’.
But that cliché, as accurate as it sometimes is (if you don’t believe me, take a trip to your local gym of an evening), the trend is changing in a truly worrying direction.
Teenagers as young as 16 (and in some cases I’ve heard of as young as 14) are obtaining and using anabolic steroids in order to gain the bodies of their sporting idols. An annual survey published in Druglink, a monthly magazine dedicated to the many areas of drug use – both legal and illegal – looked at 20 areas in the UK and found that the use of anabolic steroids has grown so much over the past year it has become “mainstream”.

You can read the full findings here @: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/ourwork/pressoffice/pressreleases/drugscope-survey-reveals-scale-of-steroid-misuse.htm

Before I let myself get into this minefield of an issue, I think it makes a lot of sense to set the record straight on what ‘steroids’ really are, and what they do to your body.

Steroids: A Definition

‘Anabolic steroids’ are a naturally occurring hormone in the body, which are integral to physical growth throughout life, most importantly in childhood and adolescence. In guys we have testosterone, which is linked from everything to how deep your voice is to how much adrenaline your body will produce under certain pressures. Testosterone is an aggressive hormone, and is used by female bodybuilders to increase their muscle mass - which is why female bodybuilders look so masculine. The female body only produces enough testosterone to regulate the body during puberty.

It worries me that steroids are becoming as sought after by young people as much as other drugs on the 'black market' (its a general term, but we all get what it means), such as 'weed' and ketamin. We have got to a point where children and young adults are being pressured from two very different sides. On the one hand you have obesity, which is rife in younger generations in the UK that has ever been; and with that you have alluring advertising going head to head with politicians constantly pressing about the issue but failing to do act on these 'concerns'. Then you have the growing pressure of 'self-image', and how only a rippling six-pack and tanned skin will get you anywhere in life, fed to impressionable children who suddenly feel incredibly insecure and take these images to be nigh on perfection.

If a grown adult chooses to take steroids, then should have the intelligence and the state of mind to understand what they are putting into their bodies. But came we really expect a child to understand the sheer effect a course of pills or even - as this scares alot of people, not just me - an injection can have on a growing body. The solution here is simple to write, and alot harder to put into practice, but this issue will get alot worse unless more people speak up about it. The simple answer is education: tackle the issue head on, and give the young people who are swallowing this bullshit a chance to see the broader picture.
Before it's too late.

D R-Lincoln