What Steroids

What is Being Done to Combat Anabolic Steroids Abuse?

Athletes and bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids are reluctant to admit their dependence on steroids. Some of them sometimes commit Anabolic Steroid abuse. They have familiarity with steroids' side effects, weight training, and nutritional value, but they have a lower level of awareness.

The AAS substances have been in use since the 1950s, and in the 1980s, the trends of steroid use increased in American athletes. Studies show that Iran also has a high AAS use prevalence among youngsters. The reason is the muscular body image and heavy bodybuilding.

Read More: How to take steroids without side effects?

Due to steroids' popularity and high AAS use prevalence at the international level, the major countries are working to develop effective interventions for AAS prevention among adolescents and athletes.

Researchers' concerns with drug abuse prohibition and cognitive factors such as social norms, knowledge, and beliefs evaluated as these lead to drug use intention.

For developing the intervention, sufficient information on psychosocial factors that, including attitude, behavioral control, and subjective norm that, are significant factors can consider as these lead to adoption or rejection and can be taken for designing healthy behavior strategy.

Intervention For Steroid Prevention:

Students who had higher intent and they were also using marijuana and alcohol and had aggressive attitudes. It was found that they were not focused on good nutrition, training or weight lifting, or finding anabolic steroids alternatives. Such students were observed to have more peer influence and fewer parental effects.

So, the peer and parental components could be considered to influence drug use. These influenced athletes always accept steroid offers. Thus, training was needed to enhance the refusal skills for these illicit substances. Curricular components and development of a sports team can be considered for an educational setting where monitoring, influence, and motivation can be regarded as for drug use prevention to enhance healthy behaviors.

Planned Behavior Theory:

It has been found that a more significant number of youngsters are using anabolic steroids and the resultant abuse and risks are the concern among users. These androgenic steroids synthetic substances have the characteristics of male sex testosterone hormones that promote skeletal muscle growth and sexual characteristics.

Planned behavior theories are considered for research purposes and a theoretical framework to discuss predictability in explaining AAS use among youngsters and athletes. It is all about behavioral intention. AAS use predictors’ attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, and peer influence for behavioral control measure to abstain from using AAS substances.

AAS Risk Factors:

Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids are associated with enhanced athletic performance, body weight, physical attractiveness, heavy muscle size, endurance, and strength training exercises. Anabolic Steroids use risk factors include younger age, body-image negative sense, and inspiration by other steroid users. Greater interest in Steroids used to develop ideal or heroic body shapes; that is a matter of craziness!

Associated Risks:

The benefits of these drugs are not alone. They also have numerous side effects that may lead to death. You may experience psychiatric and physical complications such as skin lesions, edema, cardiac problems, infertility, and other health issues that give rise to more imperfections than perfections. Moreover, the use is not just simple; it requires proper doses and a recovery PCT cycle. Any irregularities and minor mistakes always result in negative consequences. Furthermore, AAS use brings high mood swings that trigger the use of alcoholic and other addictive drugs for soothing purposes.

Research Evidence:

In Iran, a study based on preventative programs for steroids-use. A peer-based intervention strategy increased knowledge and awareness about steroids' side effects. It also took the components of planned behavior theory from 2008 to 2009 among bodybuilders. The most significant number of participants were aged between 21 to 30 years who were using testosterone, Anadrol, Dianabol, Durabolin and Oxandrolone, Methyltestosterone, and Nandrolone considered for the intervention.

Intervention programs brought improvements, and the participants developed positive attitudes. More knowledge about side effects and behavioral control through an educational program. The educational intervention brought significant improvements in attitude and knowledge level.

The results determined that awareness of potential side-effect strongly influenced the participants' behaviors. Resistance skills were also the components of the intervention that improved adolescents’ tolerance of drug use. The training changed the beliefs about steroid components and was a step toward healthy behaviors.

Numerous studies demonstrated that inappropriate beliefs and low awareness were the primary reasons for such substance usage.

Prohibit Steroid Misuse:

If parents and peers oppose its usage, they can play an essential role in stopping it. Even to discontinue the persistent habit of steroid dependence.

Only teaching about steroids’ impacts cannot convince the users, and it does not approve enough to discourage youngsters from steroids. Always present with a balanced approach that must show both benefits and risks of steroids. Moreover, the intervention program must highlight risky behaviors and misuse patterns for better counseling.

Steroid Misuse Prevention Research By NIDA:

This sophisticated prevention approach develops for sports team players in high schools to stop drug misuse. The ATLAS program was developed for Adolescents' Learning and Training to prevent drug use among football players who do not require muscle-building steroids.

ATLAS program focused on education and awareness about anabolic steroids' impacts and alternative modes for performance enhancement, such as using high-value nutrition and switching to weight-training exercises for healthy behaviors. Coaches trained the players about how to refuse drug offers. The comparison after 1 year showed minimized use of anabolic steroids and alcoholic substances. It also reduced the misuse of performance-enhancing supplements and thus controlled hazardous behaviors.

The improved knowledge of hazardous drugs’ effects and alternatives and healthy nutritional behaviors were the topics of the training. The focus was to improve the confidence of players in their athletic abilities.

The other program was The ATHENA program of Athletes Targeting, launched later the ATLAS program. Also, it develops explicitly for adolescent girls in high schools. The same positive results were obtained, and their drug dependence was reduced after training.

Treatments For The Anabolic Steroid:

People usually use steroids but do not find appropriate treatment. A large number of users even never talk about their drug use to their physician or their family members. They get information from internet sites that have rich material on anabolic steroids.

It is more challenging for physicians to be familiar with the signs of steroid use. As muscle dysmorphia requires psychological therapies, hypogonadism dysfunction requires endocrine therapies and psychosocial and pharmacological treatments used to alleviate the problem of steroid dependence. Misuse of anabolic steroids has serious side effects, severe consequences, and addiction problems.

Anabolic Steroids are Illegal:

They are addiction-causing, and sudden withdrawal results in depression, anxiousness, insomnia, anorexia, reduced libido, extreme tiredness, headaches, and joint pain. However, you can go for the treatment; you can consult a counselor or physician to seek advice on preventive strategies.

Facts:

Media has a significant role in developing a concept of heavy body image and man figure. Different studies have demonstrated the prevalence of anabolic steroids among gym users for a performance-enhancing purposes. That has given the question of why adolescents depend on this illicit substance. Despite the detrimental impacts caused by these drugs. It requires serious consideration of treatment and recovery strategies for the users.

Paul