Performance Enhancement Reflection

Performance enhancement substances are becoming more prevalent in the athletic world. People often take these to give them an edge. The substances are designed to help an athlete become stronger, faster, have more endurance, and obtain many other athletic benefits. Although these short term benefits sound tempting, one must not overlook the negative effects performance enhancing drugs can have on the body. Substances such as steroids can completely mess up the hormonal balance of teenagers. They can also cause shrinking of the testicles and a reduced sperm count. Caffeine can often lead to heart problems, and cardiovascular diseases. Other substances if overused can even cause kidney and liver damage. Although many of these substances have negatives, there are some performance enhancement substances that are natural and beneficial. These include carb loading, massages, and creatine. Creatine however, can prove damaging to the kidney if taken too often. Many people should refrain from these harmful performance enhancement substance no matter how tempting they may seem. In the long term these just prove to not be worth the short term benefit.