Brain Concussions in Sports: What's the Fuss?

Written by Gary Cordingley


If you're having difficulty understanding what a brain concussion is, and how your son or daughter's head-injury affects their further participation in sports, then you're in good company. The nature and effects of concussions are still poorly understood by many athletes, parents, coaches, news reporters and, to a certain extent, evenrepparttar medical community. But becauserepparttar 143959 brain is a treasured organ—one that athletes should want to keep in good working order forrepparttar 143960 rest of their lives—a good understanding of concussions is crucial.

Neurologists and neurosurgeons cringe when they hear sports-reporters make comments like, "Johnny had a CAT scan and it showed that he didn't have a concussion." The truth is that CAT scans don't show concussions. They do show other serious consequences of head injuries, like bleeding withinrepparttar 143961 brain, or hemorrhages that compressrepparttar 143962 brain. But concussions—while no less real—are invisible to brain-imaging tests like CAT scans and MRIs.

So what is a concussion? If a blow torepparttar 143963 head caused unconsciousness, a concussion occurred. Most people know this. But a concussion can occur even when there is no loss of consciousness. Other symptoms after a head-injury indicating a concussion include:

  1. impaired attention, e.g. vacant stare, slowness to respond, easy distractibility
  2. slurred speech, or speech that doesn't make sense
  3. clumsiness or unsteadiness
  4. disorientation, e.g. walking inrepparttar 143964 wrong direction, forgettingrepparttar 143965 day ofrepparttar 143966 week
  5. excessive emotional reaction, e.g. easy tears, overly upset
  6. memory impairment, e.g. asking same question repeatedly, can't memorize new facts
Other symptoms can develop hours or even weeks afterrepparttar 143967 injury, including headache, dizziness, poor concentration, irritability, impaired memory, fatigue, disrupted sleep, anxiety, depression, and a lack of good judgment or insight.

You'll notice that all these symptoms share a common feature—an alteration in brain function. The normal brain processes, which depend on proper signaling amongrepparttar 143968 brain's 20 billion brain cells, are out of whack.

There can also be physical damage torepparttar 143969 brain's cells. Because brain-cells are so tiny, brain scans don't detect them. Injuries causing more severe concussions can tear apartrepparttar 143970 cells' axons (the long filaments that carry coded messages over long distances withinrepparttar 143971 brain). As you can imagine, these rips inrepparttar 143972 very fabric ofrepparttar 143973 brain can cause lasting impairments in brain function or require long periods of time for recovery.

One certainty about sports-related concussions is that they are very frequent. The Centers for Disease Control estimates there are at least 300,000 of them inrepparttar 143974 U.S. per year and they comprise about 20% of all head injuries. Research also indicates thatrepparttar 143975 brains of high school athletes are more vulnerable to concussion than those of older athletes, and require longer periods of time to fully recover.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Benefits

Written by Jeff Matson


Extensive research studies show that taking vitamin and mineral supplements can potentially improve your health, protect against disease and provide you withrepparttar energy you need to live a healthy life. Although each contribute differently to your needs, vitamins and minerals work together in order to give you a balanced amount of allrepparttar 143958 components needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here are some ofrepparttar 143959 vitamins and minerals that are essential to your overall health and why they are important:

Vitamin Supplements

Vitamin A- Vitamin A helps to maintain healthy vision, keep your skin healthy and boost your immune system. In simpler terms, this vitamin keeps your skin healthy, protects against wrinkles and acne and helps fight off infections and other unwanted diseases.

Vitamin B12- This vitamin enhances muscle strength, provides energy and helps your nerves function properly. Insufficient amounts of vitamin B12 can lead to health complications such as fatigue, weak muscles and severe depression.

Vitamin C- Vitamin C serves a number of purposes including healing wounds, boosting your immune system, protecting artery linings and preventing cataracts.

Vitamin D- Vitamin D supplements are helpful for babies who are breastfed since breastfeeding does not provide adequate amounts of this vitamin. Vitamin D has also been known to help fight osteoporosis.

Vitamin E- This vitamin is known to help protect against heart disease and some forms of cancer. It also boostsrepparttar 143960 immune system and helps in healing injuries and wounds. Some studies prove that this vitamin also helps boostrepparttar 143961 immune system of elderly people.

Vitamin K- Vitamin K strengthens bones and is known to help fight osteoporosis.

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