One of the side effects of steroids that isn't talked about much!

We know that anabolic steroids can cause heart problems and many other side effects, but what effect do they have on our brains? Let's see what the science has to say.

Is our brain really at risk?

The general public usually imagines steroid users as fools. They're seen as the guys you let know when you need help moving the sofa, but they're not the guys most women want in their homes. I know plenty of people taking stimulants who defy this stereotype, but science has suggested for years that anabolic-androgenic steroid use can indeed negatively affect the brain.

One study found that high-dose steroid users have more memory problems and problems with the mental processes that help you focus, plan and execute tasks, and coordinate information in the brain. But that was a study using online surveys, which can be misleading.

Now researchers have examined this in more detail. What they found is alarming.

The research team gathered 85 past and present men using steroids. Along with 64 other men who don't use any banned substances, so it can all be compared and cross-checked. They sent them all for MRIs, scanned their brains and ran some tests on them.

The high dose steroid users were actually weaker in everything!

Okay, not dramatically so, but they performed worse in several cognitive domains such as information processing speed, working memory and problem solving. In general, their cerebral cortex wasn't as thick.

(Thickness in this area of the brain is related to intelligence in other studies.)

Also, the longer the person took steroids, the worse his memory became. Short-term users also had problems, but performed better than long-term users.

Summary: Long-term use of high doses of anabolic steroids seems to lead to poor brain health and has a negative effect on our cognitive abilities.

How to process this information?

Many people think that steroids are dangerous, society destroying drugs on par with heroin and meth. Those people are wrong. But equally wrong are the people who say that if steroids are "used wisely" they are perfectly safe.

They aren't, at least when it comes to bodybuilding doses and being used for extended periods of time. Your heart doesn't like it and apparently neither does your brain!

The aforementioned study:

Bjørnebekk A et al. Cognitive performance and structural brain correlates in long-term anabolic-androgenic steroid exposed and nonexposed weightlifters. Neuropsychology. 2019 May;33(4):547-559. PubMed 34.

Source.