From the Bigs to NU: Performance Enhancement :: Journalism Essays

From the Bigs to NU: Performance Enhancement From the very first time he touched the newest and hottest in a long line of drug fads, Justin Hedrick, then high school running back, now star pitcher for the Northeastern baseball team, was swept up in the craze of ephedra. Looking back, he realizes what a fortunate decision he made to stop using the common muscle supplement linked to as many as 155 deaths around the country since its introduction in the mid-1990s. â€Å"Before (football) season, we used to cut down a little bit of weight in order to see how fast we could run or get our 40 times up a bit,† he said. â€Å"A couple of us running backs took it to see what it was like, and took it for about a month. â€Å"We just got ripped, it was ridiculous. It was perfect,† he added. â€Å"Our 40s went up, everything that we were doing, the amount of time we were working †¦ everything increased and we were like, ‘Ok, this stuff is awesome.’ After we played the season and were going to get on it next season, all the reports came out saying it was going to cause heart attacks. After researching it †¦ I was just a stupid, young, high school kid and I didn’t look into it before. But, once you do, you realize it’s basically speed. You kind of frown upon that after awhile. I mean, it’s great for the time being, but once you research it you find out what it does – and that’s just scary.† How does it work? Ephedra (also known as the Chinese herbal treatment ma huang), has been used in China for thousands of years. But, what makes it kick? â€Å"In simple terms, the human body reacts to ephedra as it does to a surge of adrenaline,† explains diet-pills-information.org. â€Å"Adrenaline is the ‘fight-or-flight’ hormone which is released by the body during the periods of stress and exercise. It speeds up heart rate and sends extra blood to muscles. The difference is that whereas an adrenaline rush typically lasts only a few minutes, the effects of ephedra can last for hours. Ephedra also stimulates the release of large quantities of adrenaline. Such a surge of adrenaline can make the heart beat even faster and deplete oxygen that keeps the heart working – resulting in heart strain or even heart attack.† This process, according to numerous researchers, is an even greater danger when combined with caffeine, which is found in most ephedra-containing supplements.