Maybe. According to a Canadian Journal of Psychiatry article the Red Bull we’re all pounding (with or without vodka) can trigger “pathological mood switches.” Yet we all need our fix to make it out there in the competitive world (see caffeine, Ritalin). We need our boob jobs (see: Carrie Prejean), our heel lifts (see: Tom Cruise, Nicolas Sarkozy), our “flaxseed oil” (see: Barry Bonds). And while we often point the performance-enhancing finger at athletes for their doping and steroid abuse, how about Mickey Rourke who walked away with an Oscar nod for his comeback performance in The Wrestler? When Men’s Journal asked him whether he roided up for the role he responded, “When I’m a wrestler, I behave like a wrestler.”
Today performance uppers are so much more than HGH. They’re cosmetic surgery to “stay competitive in the workplace,” they’re designer babies custom made down to their complexion, they’re brain fitness tools that will help you one day upload the contents of your brain to computers (Microsoft holds a patent for a device that would distribute “power and data to devices coupled to the human body,” a reverse Bluetooth!). They’re There are even defense-industry exoskeletons that make lifting 200 pounds feel like 20.
Do you know how much Viagra, steroids, and baseball have in common? How much more money tall people make than their shorter counterparts? How the military keeps our troops awake night after fighting night? Find out here, plus oodles more sourced stats and tidbits.
Plus: The Vatican, King Charles, and The Rolling Stones all weigh in on performance enhancement through the ages. Also, ever wonder how our heros, athletes winning Olympic gold and shattering records can have no shame? Excuses, excuses…
