Plez. None of that shet into my water bottle until further notice..
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SCRANTON, Pennsylvania: When George Downey and other lacrosse players at Marywood University volunteered to take Viagra for a study, he received a snickering nickname from his high school coach. His parents jokingly told their friends. Inquiring minds sent messages to his Facebook page.

"They're making fun of me," Downey, 19, said good-naturedly. "Deep down, I think they're looking for tips."

Except that the Marywood study does not involve the bedroom, but the playing field. It is being financed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is investigating whether the diamond-shaped blue pills create an unfair competitive advantage in dilating an athlete's blood vessels and unduly increasing oxygen-carrying capacity. If so, the agency could ban the drug.

Viagra, or sildenafil citrate, was devised to treat pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in arteries of the lungs. The drug works by suppressing an enzyme that controls blood flow, allowing the vessels to relax and widen. The same mechanism facilitates blood flow into the penis of impotent men. In the case of athletes, increased cardiac output and more efficient transport of oxygenated fuel to the muscles can enhance endurance.

"Basically, it allows you to compete with a sea level, or near sea level, aerobic capacity at altitude," Kenneth Rundell, the director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Marywood, said of Viagra.

Some experts are more skeptical. Anthony Butch, the director of the Olympic drug-testing lab at UCLA, said it would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" to prove that Viagra provides a competitive edge, given that the differences in performance would be slight and that athletes would probably take it in combination with other drugs.

Scientists have the same uncertainty about the performance-enhancing effects of human growth hormone, though it is banned. But some athletes do not need proof - only a belief - that a drug works before using it, Butch said.

"I think it's going to be a problem," he said.
snip
Interest in the drug among anti-doping experts was further piqued by a study conducted at Stanford University and published in 2006 in The Journal of Applied Physiology.
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.........The study indicated that some participants taking Viagra improved their performances by nearly 40 percent in 10-kilometer, or 6.2 mile, cycling time trials conducted at a simulated altitude of 12,700 feet, or 3,870 meters - a height far above general elite athletic competition......
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............... Viagra did not significantly enhance performance at sea level, where blood vessels are fully dilated in healthy athletes.

A 2004 German study of climbers at 17,200 feet at a Mount Everest base camp, published in The Annals of Internal Medicine, found that Viagra relieved constriction of blood vessels in the lungs and increased maximum exercise capacity.

At this point, there is no evidence of widespread use of Viagra by elite athletes, Tygart said. Yet, because the drug is not prohibited and thus not screened with any routine urgency, there is no way to know precisely how popular it is.

There is some suspicion that Viagra may be used to circumvent doping controls in cycling, which has faced waves of scandal. Last May, the cyclist Andrea Moletta was removed from the Tour of Italy after a search of his father's car turned up 82 Viagra pills, as well as syringes concealed in a tube of toothpaste, according to news accounts. An investigation ended without formal accusations of doping.

This study is also examining whether there is a difference in the way Viagra affects male and female athletes

https://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/...gra.php?page=1

Are you thinking this might be a good idea while cycle racing? There might be some hard problems with this.

If you're going to take Viagra for a study, make sure your last name isn't Downey. You're just setting yourself up.

I assume the study , studies the residual of viagra, after the initial rush.. Can't imagine riding under such stressful conditions.. To administer the drug during a ride would be more like a dirty prank..

It might come in handy in dealing with a 'stiff' wind!


Brian

Without larger studies, I don't think we should have knee jerk responses and the erection of barriers to further investigation. We could swell members in all sporting endeavors if a twofold use could be proven.

I'd hate to see the Polish team with Viagra...

Or the Ethiopians!

!*&#$!!

Viagra acts as a peripheral stimulant to blood-vessels. As such it could possibly be a help for cycling. But it could also promote a heart-attack if a physician didn't check you, and Viagra, out first for this application. This hasn't been done. Want to risk it? I don't care. But that's an off-label usage of a potentially dangerous (and profitable) drug.

Watch it.

Of course it gives and edge. Three legs are always better than one. :-)

Just maybe they were given a half dose... See photo in the link.. I was wondering if you get to take your Significant other along to the clinic , when they administer the blue pill.