Active May 2014 | Page 17

How Drugs Can affect performance

Adrenaline

Adrenaline is a hormone released by the adrenal gland in the sympathetic nervous system used to activate the “fight or flight” response. Generally this means that heart rate increases, air passages to the lungs expand, blood pressure increases, blood glucose levels increase, and the pupil widens. This molecule was made by evolution to make the body work in overload when its life was on the line.

Having more oxygen delivered to your muscles faster means a better performance, and having heightened senses means better reaction time. These two things are extremely valuable to an athlete in a close game. However, if such a person were to get carried away on a wave of stress and lose control of the production of epinephrine it could cause health difficulties. Adrenaline also stimulates the release of cortisol, which suppresses the immune system and can cause chronic stress. It is unlikely that an athlete would inject his or herself with adrenaline before the sports event. Of all the drugs that are in this section, it is the only one that is naturally produced by the body.

Marijuana

As marijuana is the most widely used drug in America and is a depressant, many would wonder why I am addressing it in a sports magazine. An extremely large percentage of its uses are recreational. However, a growing number of athletes are using it as a means to calm nerves.

Being a professional athlete includes large amounts of stress. They are paid millions of dollars to perform in one game or race, and sometimes millions of dollars rest on them winning. Stress, while causing the release of adrenaline, can negatively impact an athlete drastically. While getting high certainly is not legal or even smart, it does present a solution to the problem.

Marijuana is known to increase heart rate while decreasing cardiac stroke volume, resulting in diminished peak performance due to an increased difficulty in oxygen intake. Therefore, marijuana theoretically should cause a much worse result, and has been proven to do so. Still, athletes will still fall back on the drug for the increase in confidence and relaxation. Perhaps in sports requiring less cardiovascular endurance such as golf, this would yield an improvement.

Adrenaline shots are mainly reserved to slow down severe allergic reaction, known as an epipen, or in the military to allow a soldier to keep fighting after being wounded. This effect of not feeling pain as severely would also be important to an athlete. The problem is that once activated, adrenaline only lasts for a few minutes before its message fades. So for example, it would be fairly useless in a marathon. Due to the health risks of a long term adrenaline rush, which include heart attacks, it is suggested that the injection of the hormone only be done in the most critical of times and certainly not in sports.

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