The purpose of my report is to inform you about the influence of methamphetamines on the human brain and also how that effects a user’s performance in a sporting region. Sports now days is played to the highest of quality and you never want to see it played on unfair terms. Obviously drugs can also have the opposite effect and can affect their performance in a bad way. It can affect their perception and coordination as well as their reaction time. This drug can also affect their mood, like it can control their temper and flare. They can become very aggressive. This can also affect their relationships with the people who are closest to them. The outline of this report is to inform you of the dangers of these drugs. Methamphetamines are one of the more dangerous drugs for your brain. It can easily damage brain cells and lower brain power. It also gives an insight on what sort of effect it has on sporting performance. I chose sporting performance because it is something that I am interested in and I want to work in something to do with sports science when I am older. I chose Methamphetamines because this drug is a big problem in society at the moment and I want to find out what this is doing to our generation. My chosen drug meth, can affect you in many different ways. This article is to mainly to investigate the effect on sports performance and relationships. It is also to examine what drives people to take this drug or try it. There have been many investigations into this and this will be another one of them
Smoking methamphetamines is the most frequent way to use the drug while injecting it into your bloodstream has the fastest effect on the body. Once in the bloodstream it is transferred around the body through blood flow and into the brain where the hallucinations start. This drug clogs the path for some chemicals in the body that are needed such as dopamine, this then causes that ‘rush’ feeling. Once meth enters the bloodstream, the brain receives a signal to release Epinephrine (neurotransmitter) which tells the heart to pump more blood around the body. Meth increases the heart rate and blood pressure of the user because of the stress on the cardiac muscle. This drug can shorten your blood vessels also causing them to not be able to transport the blood to all the places they are needed. Because of the extra epinephrine released into the body, there can be consequences like the blood being pumped around the body puts the heart into overload and that is how heart attacks can occur.
The effects of using meth can last up to 12 hours. It moves into the terminals where it damages many nerve terminals. Soon after using it you start hallucinating, you have strange sensations like insects under your skin and you start picking at your skin which leaves massive scars because of this (see figure 1). After as little as 3 hours you can already have done real damage to your brain’s receptors. Because of the damage that the first meth hit did to the neurotransmitters the next hit will be less effective thus a higher dosage is need to feel the effects, this can lead to drug overdose. People who use this drug regularly can experience anxiety, hallucinations, extreme weight loss, violent behaviour and much more. This will distort your vision and this can lead to dangerous consequences. It is an insoluble product, where hydrochloride occurs frequently as a salt.
Chemical Formula: C10H15N
Molecular Weight: 149.2328g /mol
The molecular structure for methamphetamine is shown in figure 2
Because methamphetamine is so similar to dopamine it can ‘trick’ the brain into releasing more, so it can control the most part of the body. It changes the functions of different neurons as well. The damage of methamphetamines on the brain can last for past 3 years and maybe more, scientists have done research and can clearly see that the neurotransmitters receptors are still damaged after 3 years after quitting this drug. Because meth can affect your blood pressure, long time users can have damaged blood vessels. This can lead to bleeding in the brain and strokes.
Methamphetamine users are also prone to violence and this can affect the relationships that are closest to them. An addiction to this drug can lead to major health problems. This can lead to abuse towards the ones closest to you. You will steal from your family and will do anything just for another hit. You will be left with nothing and no one. Everyone that cared about you will separate themselves from you. This drug can and will ruin your life. It only takes one time for you to lose everything. Domestic violence has started to become a major problem in our society. There have been countless numbers of assaults in the last couple of years. This drug is highly addictive and users will do anything to get their hands on some more. They can even steal from their family and friends and will lose everything. This drug has torn many families apart because the family can no longer trust this meth user and can feel threatened by their presence. You will never be the same again after using meth. It controls how you sleep, eat and everything you do on a normal day. You cannot sleep because you are constantly thinking about meth and you can also be hallucinating.
Background
Methamphetamine the drug is a stimulant which speeds up the body’s activity. This drug affects the reward pathway of your brain because this is one the most dangerously addictive drugs available. It increases the amount of dopamine that is released causing people to increase the dosage of the drug to be able to better feel the effects of it. This can cause many problems in your life like your closest relationships. It can be taken in many ways including snorting, injecting, smoking and crush it.Smoking methamphetamines is the most frequent way to use the drug while injecting it into your bloodstream has the fastest effect on the body. Once in the bloodstream it is transferred around the body through blood flow and into the brain where the hallucinations start. This drug clogs the path for some chemicals in the body that are needed such as dopamine, this then causes that ‘rush’ feeling. Once meth enters the bloodstream, the brain receives a signal to release Epinephrine (neurotransmitter) which tells the heart to pump more blood around the body. Meth increases the heart rate and blood pressure of the user because of the stress on the cardiac muscle. This drug can shorten your blood vessels also causing them to not be able to transport the blood to all the places they are needed. Because of the extra epinephrine released into the body, there can be consequences like the blood being pumped around the body puts the heart into overload and that is how heart attacks can occur.
The effects of using meth can last up to 12 hours. It moves into the terminals where it damages many nerve terminals. Soon after using it you start hallucinating, you have strange sensations like insects under your skin and you start picking at your skin which leaves massive scars because of this (see figure 1). After as little as 3 hours you can already have done real damage to your brain’s receptors. Because of the damage that the first meth hit did to the neurotransmitters the next hit will be less effective thus a higher dosage is need to feel the effects, this can lead to drug overdose. People who use this drug regularly can experience anxiety, hallucinations, extreme weight loss, violent behaviour and much more. This will distort your vision and this can lead to dangerous consequences. It is an insoluble product, where hydrochloride occurs frequently as a salt.
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| Figure 1: Result of picking at skin while on a meth high. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excoriation_disorder#/media/File:Derma_me.JPG |
Molecular Weight: 149.2328g /mol
The molecular structure for methamphetamine is shown in figure 2
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| Figure 2: Methamphetamine Structure By Jynto (talk) - Own workCrystallographic data from P. Hakey, W. Ouellette, J. Zubieta and T. Korter (May 2008). "Redetermination of (+)-methamphetamine hydrochloride at 90 K" Acta Cryst. E64, o940. DOI:10.1107/S1600536808011550This chemical image was created with Discovery Studio Visualizer., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38018198 |
Because methamphetamine is so similar to dopamine it can ‘trick’ the brain into releasing more, so it can control the most part of the body. It changes the functions of different neurons as well. The damage of methamphetamines on the brain can last for past 3 years and maybe more, scientists have done research and can clearly see that the neurotransmitters receptors are still damaged after 3 years after quitting this drug. Because meth can affect your blood pressure, long time users can have damaged blood vessels. This can lead to bleeding in the brain and strokes.
Discussion
In sport you are constantly moving and using this stimulant drug can cause your heart which is already working hard, to pump even harder to transport more blood around the body. This can easily cause a heart attack. It can also make more movements in your muscles which can result in injury. This drug can sort of act as an aid for pain so you won’t be able to feel an injury if this happens and will result in worse damage to the area. Stimulant drugs can keep you awake at night as well which means you won’t get the rest you need before a match and that can lead to on field problems. You can also lose your appetite and a vital part to recovering after a game is to replace the calories that you lost with the energy you used in that game. You cannot do this if you have loss of appetite. It can cause you to become very aggressive and that can put other people in danger while playing the game. People who use find it hard to cool down after a game which can cause dehydration and that leads to reduction of blood circulation. It can cause them to sweat less and be unaware of the growing fatigue that they are experiencing.Methamphetamine users are also prone to violence and this can affect the relationships that are closest to them. An addiction to this drug can lead to major health problems. This can lead to abuse towards the ones closest to you. You will steal from your family and will do anything just for another hit. You will be left with nothing and no one. Everyone that cared about you will separate themselves from you. This drug can and will ruin your life. It only takes one time for you to lose everything. Domestic violence has started to become a major problem in our society. There have been countless numbers of assaults in the last couple of years. This drug is highly addictive and users will do anything to get their hands on some more. They can even steal from their family and friends and will lose everything. This drug has torn many families apart because the family can no longer trust this meth user and can feel threatened by their presence. You will never be the same again after using meth. It controls how you sleep, eat and everything you do on a normal day. You cannot sleep because you are constantly thinking about meth and you can also be hallucinating.
Conclusion
This drug is very dangerous and you have to be very careful around it. There are many forms that this drug can be in, so you always have to be careful because you never know where it could be. This drug can change your life and you can do nothing about it unless you don’t take it. You will lose all trust in everyone that loves you. It can turn the user into a criminal even because they are so addicted and could possibly break the law in order to get their hands on some more. As this report has shown, methamphetamines can affect the brain in many different ways like giving you an adrenaline rush because too much dopamine has been released, it can also leave your brains receptors and neurotransmitters visibly damaged 3 years later but it’s the stuff that you can’t see that can do the real damage in the long run. Sporting ability can decrease which can cause your performance not be the best standard. Brain fades and lack of energy can be the main causes of this. As for relationships it can cause you to lose the best people in your life and also disadvantage you to meet new friends.Public Education Piece
My public education piece is a pamphlet to advise the general public of the information learned during this research assignment.
References
Drugs on the brain bibliography
National Institute of Drug Abuse
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/methamphetamine
April 15th 2016
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/methamphetamine
April 26th 2016
Methamphetamine: A biological Approach, Cardiovascular
https://methiscool.wordpress.com/cardiovascular-system/
April 26th 2016
Methamphetamine: A biological Approach, When Meth enters the body
https://methiscool.wordpress.com/when-meth-enters/
April 28th 2016
Counseling Washington
https://www.counselingwashington.com/Resources/Articles-of-Interest/Articles/Brain-Response-Methamphetamine/
April 29th 2016
Frontline: Meth in the brain
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/body/methbrainnoflash.html
April 29th 2016
The effects of alcohol and other drugs on sport
https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/NET%20Drugs%20and%20Sport%20Web.pdf
May 4th 2016
Drugs.ie
http://www.drugs.ie/drugs_info/about_drugs/drugs_sport/
May 4th 2016
How Drug Abuse Affects Relationships
http://www.narconon.org/blog/drug-addiction/how-drug-abuse-affects-relationships/
May 6th 2016
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