Before we get started this week I have to send out a monster CONGRATULATIONS to the team after winning the Conference Championship! Another first in a season of firsts! I have no doubt this trend will continue in the Big Dance this week.
On to education. This week I want to touch on one of the "dirty little secrets" of sports: performance enhancing drugs (PED). More specifically, why you should never take PED. PED's are not limited to steroids. Caffeine, if taken in large quantities, is considered a PED. Besides the ethical issues associated with cheating, PED's wreak havoc on the body. Your body wants to maintain a steady state of all its functions, called homeostasis. When this state of affairs is disrupted the body manipulates all its functions to try and regain homeostasis. Blood pressure, hormonal functions, even brain activity, changes as a result. An easy example to illustrate this involves changes resulting from abusing anabolic steroids. As you artificially increase your blood testosterone levels your body senses this increase and tries to regain balance. It accomplishes this in two ways. First it will stop producing its own testosterone. Second, it will increase its production of estrogen to counteract the increase in testosterone. The effects of prolonged steroid use are well documented. Because of these hormonal changes men are apt to develop female traits such as breasts, as well as shrunken testicles and low sperm count. Not to mention the effects on bones and joints. As muscles are able to produce more and more force bones, ligaments and tendons can't handle the increased load. You are likely to tear bones and/or soft tissue and develop early onset arthritis. Furthermore, steroids are lipid based hormones, meaning increased fat levels, increased blood pressure, increased load on the cardiovascular system equaling heart disease. Quite a price to pay for artificial glory.
In my world this week the injury report is back to zero after a minor hiccup. A good thing heading into the NCAA tournament. I see or hear about other teams having injuries and knock on wood that our good fortune continues in this regard. Completely off the subject, knowing that we would be driving at night back and forth to Nova with the AC blasting in the vans the whole time I had the foresight to bring along the Snuggie. Let me tell you gang, after actually using it as intended I'm a believer. The Snuggie is legit!
Stay away from PED's, get rowdy at the tournament and we'll see you next time on Chris' Corner.
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I might have to try a Snuggie for bus rides. Never thought of it. I'm in.
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