The concept of half-life is not unique to the use of anabolic steroids.
It is used in many scientific fields like physics, chemistry, biology, etc. In medicine and more specifically in pharmacology, the half-life is an essential data in the development of the dosage of drugs. No matter what field this theme is used in, it tends to mean the same thing. So, generally speaking, half-life is a short period of time in which something flourishes before disappearing. In physics, more precisely in the field of radioactivity, it is the time required for half of the atoms of a given quantity of a radioactive substance to decay.
Since anabolic steroids are drugs, we will stick to the half-life in pharmacology. What is the half-life of a pharmaceutical product?
The half-life in pharmacology: anabolic steroids in particular
In pharmacology, the half-life of a substance administered to a living being is the time required for the activity of that substance in the body to be reduced to half of its initial effectiveness. All drugs have a half-life. If we take the case of anabolic steroids, their half-life is the time during which it remains active in the body until it halves their effectiveness. This notion is very important to understand. This is what will allow you to make a good planning of the intake of products throughout your cycle. Without an adequate understanding of the half-life of the anabolic steroids that you use, the risks for you to make inappropriate dosages are very high. In the best of cases, the doses will be lower than normal and you could not reach the objectives set. In the worst case, the risk of being overdosed is very high. Thus you will be exposed to all the unwanted effects of anabolic steroids and more.
The half-life of a substance should never be seen as the full life of this substance. Nor should it be confused with average lifespan. Many people make the mistake of confusing these different themes.
The half-life can vary from one steroid to another. What factors can influence the half-life of anabolic steroids?
Why don't anabolic steroids have the same half-lives?
The half-lives of anabolic steroids depend on several factors. Already, anabolic steroids are not all designed the same, much less with the same compounds. Based on this fact, it is impossible that all anabolic steroids have the same half-lives since they will not have the same resistance to human metabolism. There are several factors that can affect the half-life of these products. The most important factors are as follows.
The administration route
The administration method has a significant impact on the half-life of an anabolic steroid. Oral and injectable anabolic steroids are the most used today. There are many other routes such as transdermal patches, gels or creams, implantation lozenges, and sublingual and nasal applications. However, they are very rare.
Anabolic steroids for oral administration generally have short half-lives compared to injectables. This is due to the fact that these types of anabolic steroids are ingested in their pure states and are therefore immediately active. The oral route does not make it possible to set up a mechanism like esterification to delay the release of steroid hormones in the body.
The other reason that the half-lives of oral anabolic steroids are much shorter than the half-lives of injectable steroids is the immediate exposure to hepatic metabolism. At this level, the liver speeds up metabolism and promotes the rapid absorption and / or elimination of hormones. The half-lives of oral anabolic steroids range from 4 hours to 48 hours, depending on the anabolic steroid used. There are of course exceptions.
Injectable anabolic steroids generally have longer half-lives than oral steroids. Injectables are specially designed to form a sort of deposit in the muscle areas where they are injected. As a result, these deposits slowly desolder from the injection site into the bloodstream. This slow release allows steroid hormones to remain active for much longer periods of time than oral anabolic steroids.. There are two types of injectable anabolic steroids. Those based on oil and those based on water. Oil-based injectables are much more capable of forming deposits. The half-lives of injectable anabolic steroids generally range from 24 hours to 15 days or more, depending on the anabolic steroid used. Almost all injectable anabolic steroids are esterified.
Esterification
Esterification has been specially developed by scientists to extend the half-life of injectable substances. It is a very determining factor in prolonging the half-life of anabolic steroids. Esterification is a process by which a carboxylic acid binds to the 17-beta hydroxyl group of an anabolic steroid. Carboxylic acids that are esterified vary in length and are in the form of a carbon chain. The longer the carbon chain of the carboxylic acid, the longer the half-life of the anabolic steroid will be. Once the anabolic steroid is injected into the body, it is slowly released from the injection site into the bloodstream, and once in the blood, the body's esterase enzymes loosen the ester from the anabolic steroid. Longer ester bonds will take longer for these enzymes to release the hormone from the ester.
Some examples of steroid half-lives:
Here, for example, are the half-lives of the main oral steroids:
Dianabol : 8 hours
Anavar : between 9 and 12 hours
Primobolan : 6 hours
Winstrol : 8 hours
Below are the half-lives of the main injectable steroids:
Winstrol : 24 hours
Primobolan : 10.5 days
Boldenone : 15 days
Deca Durabolin : between 6 and 15 days
Parabolan : 6 days
The half-life is a key concept to master when one wants to do a cycle of anabolic steroids or when one is already a userThis notion will help you achieve an effective schedule for taking products in order to reach your objectives and plan your post-recovery cycle.
