How's that for a mind-bender: Lou Gehrig Maybe Lou Gehrig didn't have the disease.. Instead, his life-ending disease could have been chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The brain disease is attributable to repeated concussions — Gehrig sustained at the very least 4 during his baseball profession — or other head injuries. This may cause symptoms just like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease.
Further evidence of a link between CTE and ALS comes from a. A new study About 3,500 retired skilled football players, all of whom played at the very least five years within the National Football League. Researchers on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health examined the causes of death of 334 athletes who died.
- The risk of death from Alzheimer's disease or ALS was about 4 times higher than expected.
- Those who played “speed” positions (corresponding to quarterbacks or receivers) had thrice the chance of dying from Alzheimer's disease or ALS than those that played “non-speed” positions (corresponding to linemen).
This research shows that repetitive head injuries are attributable to high speeds. can do Years later it causes a brain disease just like ALS or Alzheimer's disease. I say “may” since the study relied on death certificates, not autopsies, and the researchers couldn't confirm the reason for death. Still, the speed of those degenerative neurological diseases amongst skilled football players is alarming—and never only for those players.
Protect the mind.
gave Risks of CTE Professional and amateur athletes and others with head injuries, including the military, have gotten more common. We are also learning that CTE could also be more common than previously suspected.
The message of this work is evident: if you happen to engage in activities that may cause head injury, take precautions.
One of essentially the most common high-risk activities is riding in a automobile. Protect your brain by at all times wearing a seat belt, don't drink and drive, and don't text while driving.
If you wear protective headgear or a helmet.
- Riding a bicycle or motorcycle
- ride a horse
- Ski or play ice hockey
- the box
- Play soccer, baseball, or lacrosse
- Work on a construction site.
Keep in mind that this is barely a partial list. A more comprehensive one is out there from Brain Injury Association of America.
If you've had several head injuries or concussions up to now, it could be a great idea to avoid these high-risk activities in the long run.
How do you recognize if you've a concussion? Immediate symptoms include a number of of the next:
- Losing consciousness
- Headache or nausea
- Dizziness
- Difficulty seeing or seeing “stars”.
- Difficulty concentrating or feeling such as you're in a fog.
- Ringing in your ears
Some symptoms may appear later, corresponding to unexplained fatigue, mood swings, or changes in your sleep patterns.
If you experience any of those, try before returning to work or play. If you're undecided if you happen to're able to get back into motion, back off. Give yourself more time. And definitely see your doctor for a diagnosis.
Making sports safer
Lou Gehrig played baseball, not football. If CTE is common in baseball or other sports, we are going to have to work out tips on how to higher protect players in those sports as well.
It is unlikely that we will make every sport and occupation risk-free. But it is smart to proceed studying the connection between degenerative brain diseases and head injuries. Advances on this area are urgently needed, especially for youngsters and young adults, whose brain development is especially vulnerable.