Steroid Use in High Schools-It Isn’t Just for the Athlete.

In the quest for the every evasive college scholarship, the students in high schools around the country are now becoming tempting to dabble in the usage of steroids or performance-enhancing drugs (PED) to try to stand out in the crowd.  Colleges only have a limited number of positions available on their sports teams.  There are millions of high school athletes vying their way to get the attention of these coaches through any means possible.  Some athletes enter fields of extremely high competition.  In addition to the sporting aspect, the athlete must also perform well in the academic realm as well.  This pressure to succeed pushes these students into sometimes impossible situations.

Healthline did a report on the usage of steroids with high school students.  They found some alarming rate of usage in the student body.  What they found the most interesting is that in many instances, steroids were not being used to perform better in an athletic contest.  These students were using the steroids to enhance their personal appearance.  Boys were using these PEDs to gain muscle and strength.  Girls were found to use more  diet pills than PEDs.  The study found that one of the most overused substances that kids used at an alarming rate was caffeine with an alarming rate of 73% of students consuming caffeine on a daily basis.

The other issue is that these kids are taking supplements and there is not FDA oversight on the product’s content.  In their quest to be bigger, faster, stronger, thinner- they are consuming products that could be extremely dangerous.  They literally have no idea what is in the products they are consuming because the government hasn’t tested it or regulated it.  This is a very dangerous path for these students to be on.  It is also how illegal drugs are created by combining different supplements together to get a high or low depending on the need.  Students need to tread lightly on the nutrition supplements they consume and parents need to be vigilant in checking on the “protein shakes” students could be drinking.

Eric Walter

Source:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/performance-enhancing-substances-rise-in-high-school-sports#1