Promote drug free sport in 2019

Mthandazo Ndlovu

AS the year begins, a number of resolutions are made and new fields are explored. To those that have chosen sports as their main activity in life, whether in coaching or been participants this one is for you.

Sports makes physical and mental demands on your body. Recreational drugs are also demanding on you whether you want them to or not they affect your mind and body, so do not experiment on any substances.

When you are active during sports your body adapts to provide you with the support you need, such as increasing the rate your heart pumps blood and supplies oxygen to your muscles. Your brain works to maintain body temperature, co-ordinate your movement and make you alert.

Depressants such as cannabis (mbanje), alcohol and opiates, slow down your breathing, mbanje reduces your lung capacity, making it harder to get the oxygen your muscles need during sport.

Opiates such as heroin and codeine, slow down your breathing and narrow the path of your air ways. This makes it harder to breathe and reduces your breathing at a time when your body needs extra oxygen.

Stimulant drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and speed increase your heart rate and put undue stress on your heart also included here are the energy drinks they can cause heart attack and abnormal heart rhythm.

Depressants such as alcohol slow down your heart rate, meaning less oxygen — rich blood reaches your muscles.

The last thing you want during sports is to disrupt your co-ordination and relax your muscles. Depressants such as mbanje reduce your motor activity, such that it is hard to co-ordinate your movement during sport. Stimulants increase your movement so you are most likely to injure yourself. Cocaine at higher doses acts as an anaesthetic, so you can not feel the pain and continue to play on after an injury causing more damage.

Depressants like cannabis, alcohol and opiates affect your alertness and concentration, so you are slower to react.

Stimulants such as cocaine, ecstasy, high caffeine energy drinks can make you irritable and restless — making you less focused on the game. Hallucinogens like mbanje can play havoc with your senses, they affect your sight and sound and may disrupt your performance. Stimulants such as cocaine can keep you awake, so that you do not get rest and this affects your performance. They also decrease your appetite and at higher doses they make you irritable and aggressive, they also cause blood vessels in the brain to rupture leading to convulsions.

Let’s work towards a drug-free sporting 2019 and it begins with you, be careful what you eat and drink as drugs are now coming in all forms of things.

For more information contact 00263772399734 or email [email protected] and join the Rechabites in creating drug free communities.

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