Sports and Steroids: Let's "Clear" the Air

Listening to sports radio and TV is something we all as sports fans love to do. Of course we like some shows better than others. One thing they all have in common is that they cause confusion about steroids and exactly what they do to help an athlete. From a degreed health care professional, we will try to lessen the confusion about different types of steroids and their effects on the body and how they may help an athlete perform at a high level, well beyond their normal peak age.

We've all heard how steroids help an athlete heal faster, make them stronger and last longer when performing in their respective sport from listening to the sports talk hosts and athletes on TV and radio. While these comments are true - different steroids do different things in our bodies - yes in OUR bodies - we all have them and produce them naturally whether athletes or not. Athletes just increase the amounts in their bodies by injecting these chemicals into their bodies and therefore might get more benefits than normal.  

Let's call this lesson: Steroids 101. Steroids are like apples, there are many types and they all have different effects on our body. First and foremost, the word "Steroid" describes a certain chemical structure that is common for many, many different compounds. So there are dozens of chemicals (drugs, etc) that are Steroids. All of our bodies make steroids naturally, we also all make Human Growth Hormone (HGH) which technically isn't a steroid but we hear them all talked about together.

One type of steroid that our bodies make is Cortisol, made in the Adrenal glands that sit on top of our Kidneys. You may have heard about or taken prescription drugs that are related to Cortisol. Some of the names are Prednisone, Methylprednisolone and Dexamethasone as well as others. These are classified as Corticosteroids (sounds similar to Cortisol doesn't it!). Many of you know that when you are sick with certain diseases, the doctor will prescribe you Prednisone to help you get over certain illnesses such as Bronchitis, Asthma, A broken arm, etc. When you have such illnesses, your body naturally produces more Cortisol to help you heal faster, so when the doctor give you that shot in the butt or give you a prescription of the pills, it is to add more chemicals that do that same thing as your own Cortisol. In other words, it helps you heal faster from whatever illness you have. These type of Steroids are strong reducers of swelling or inflammation so your body can basically "clean up" the damaged tissues that occur with different illnesses. 

Another type of Steroid, are the "sex" hormones like Testosterone in men or Estrogen in women. These steroids really don't have much of an effect on reducing inflammation. They are responsible for making us who we are: Testosterone makes a man, a man. This hormone is produced in the Testicles (so that's why women don't make it). It is responsible for why men have more muscle, a deeper voice, thicker bones, etc than women. Estrogen is made in the woman's Ovaries (that's why men don't make it) and is responsible mainly for making a woman ready to bear children and has no real effect on muscle mass although it does help increase bone density, etc.

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