Learning & Teaching Tools For Mental Wellness

Mental Wellness Video Transcript

In athletics, what you want to do is be able to put yourself in a situation where you’re challenged, which by definition is going to be anxiety. Your expectation is maybe a little higher than your performance, and you’re trying to figure out how to get there. In addition, you’re trying to figure out how to get there with other people. The problem with that is that if you continually put higher expectations than you can ever receive, you’re in a state of chronic stress, chronic anxiety.

You want anxiety to be episodic, so you want the athlete to be able to feel a little anxious and then push and push and get there and then feel relieved and then recovery. For all of us in anything we do, we want to have that push and recovery, just like you’re lifting weights or anything else. That’s how you build your brain, especially in an adolescent, but even in a child. You learn that comfort, that, “I didn’t think I could do it, but I could do it.” That’s the message that you can take on into your adult life.

But if you’re put in a situation where you’re always pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, and you never get it, you get this sort of sense of hopelessness, or you get a, “I’m never going to be able to do this.” If the challenge is there and the coach is saying, “You can do this,” and you know you can’t or you think you can’t, you never get to the point where you build that confidence that you just do the additional push. It leads to all sorts of conditions. Chronic anxiety affects the immune system, and it certainly affects brain development, particularly regarding memory.

You want to help avoid those situations, and athletes just find themselves get caught into those things. Socially they’re pushed into staying in that anxiety-provoking situation. Now, perfectionism is another thing, and you may get a coach or a teacher that’s driving that perfection. We see the same thing in musicians, for example. They focus on what isn’t right with them, and they miss out on what’s right with you and what have you learned from this.

And I think that there is that danger just built into sport in some sports, particularly that puts you at risk for, “Am I too heavy? Do I have the right body? Did I move exactly the right way? What if I make a mistake?” For adolescents that are impressionable and idealistic and who have this maybe optimistic bias that they can do it, without good coaching, they get sucked into this very dangerous culture.

THE SIMPLE TRUTH: DECODING THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.