Athletes' Brains Reveal Concussion Damage

jamie found a story on research about what concussions do to athletes, with the insights coming mostly from the study of the donated brains of dead athletes. The NFL has the biggest profile in the piece, but other sports make an appearance too. Turns out that repeated concussions can result in depression, insomnia, and the beginnings of something that looks a lot like Alzheimer's. "The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said [retired wrestler] Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."

Comments

Referencing to other article

[Herr_Skymarshall]

They just need to smoke more pot!

Re:Referencing to other article

[wizbit]

Oblig Eddie Izzard:

"But the Dutch speak four languages and smoke marijuana!"

"Yes, but they're cheating! Everyone knows marijuana is a drug enhancement, that can help you on track in field, to come... last, in a team of... eight million other runners who are all dead."

Athletes?

[Tackhead]

"The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said [retired wrestler] Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."

And they needed to study athletes for this? They could have asked anyone who's ever done more than a week of front-line tech support.

Briefly, the degree of mental impairment is roughly proportional to the depth of the worn-out concavity in the desk. The rates at which both measurements increase over time show a logarithmic flattening-out as one progresses from front-line support to management.

Re:Really?

[ChienAndalu]

So very true. Other cancers of todays medicine are the "let it all out"-philosophy in gastroenterology and the "don't be so hard on yourself" school of urology.