Lots of news going on recently with the NFL. Not only political news either. I have read many news stories that discuss whether young kids should be involved in contact sports such as football. This is very concerning to me as the parent of young children. We want to keep them busy and interested in sports, but at what cost.
I want to point to a recent study published online in the Journal called Frontiers of Neurology. In this study that was completed at St. Michael's hospital they looked at the brain scans of of 65 varsity level players.
Of these:
- 23 were playing collision sports (with body to body contact) (football)
- 22 were playing contact sports (soccer, basketball, field hockey)
- 20 were playing non contact sports (volleyball)
The study showed that athletes that were involved in the collision and contact sports had changes in their brain structure, function and chemical markers that typically show up with brain injuries, compared to athletes in non contact type sports.
These differences included changes in the structure of the brain's white matter — the fibers that connect different parts of the brain and allow them to communicate with one another. The research also found chemical markers typically associated with brain injury, compared to athletes in non-contact sports.
Sports like football are great to watch. People analyse the games, bet on the games, have "game night", study the games and have teams that they root for. At what cost to the players does this come? Is such a big pay check worth it, if in the long run you are going to have memory problems, headaches and other changes to your brain. Something to think about for sure.
Source: Contact Sports Change the Brains of Young Athletes
Additional Reading:
- Working Everyday and Keeping ourselves as Healthy as possible
- Why Deep restful sleep is important for your brain
- Best Practices to Keep Your Brain Healthy
- Be Wary of the Hunchback Posture as you Age
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