Alcohol, smoking, doping and sports performance ‘A drug is any chemical substance that affects the way your body works. Alcohol and Cigarettes are examples! Most drugs affect sports performance in some way. (Alconot Allalcoholic drinks contain the chemical ethanol, which makes people ‘drunk’, Intakes at least 1 hour for the body to recover from the effects of 1 unit of alcohol After heavy drinking, ther siill alcohol in the blood next Y pinto eguor bor 1 Gls of wine | pub mone of pits day. Each contains 1 nil of alcohol compete. ~ Effects of alcohol on the body + It affects co-ordination, judgement, balance, speech and hearing, ‘+ Itlowers the level of glycogen in ‘muscles. So they can't work so long or hard. + Itleaves a ‘hangover’ which is partly dehydration. + Athletes who drink too much lose their drive to train and + Long-term alcohol abuse leads to kidney and liver damage. ‘Smoking There is no ‘safe’ level of smoking, Every cigarette is dangerous. This is what you get when you inhale cigarette smoke. carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas. In your lungs, fed blood calls take itup instead of oxygen. So the blood now carries less oxygen to muscle fibres and other ody cells. This will affect sports performance. Ne nicotine, an addictive poison. It makes the heart rate and blood pressure rise. it makes new smokers dizzy. It causes heart disease. far, a treacly brown substance. It collects in the lungs and breathing tubes. It clogs them and stops you breathing properly. This will affect sports performance. Italso causes lung cancer and bronchitis. Doping This means taking drugs to improve sporting performance. Athletes may take a drug: + {0 pep up ther performance to kill pain so that they can keep going * to builel muscles faster than they can do by training + to-calm themselves before big events. ‘An athlete who dopes is cheating, Besides, most drugs were developed for medical use, and misuse damages the body. See next page for drugs that are banned in sport. Blood doping The more red blood cells you have, the more oxygen reaches the muscles. This helps them work for longer. In blood doping, an athlete withdraws blood a few weeks before a big event. The red cells are separated and frozen. Just before the event they are thawed and injected back into the athlete. Dangers + All blood transfusions and injections carry 2 risk of infection. + Top athletes already have a high concentration of red cells. Adding more ‘may block their capillaries. SD)