Concussions

A concussion is a brain injury that is caused mainly a violent blow to the head region. Concussions usual happen in contact sports such as hockey, football, and boxing. Nevertheless they can happen by accidents like falling, car accidents, and fighting. Some of the immediate effects are headaches, loss of memory, and confusion. There are many ways to treat concussion but it depends on the severity of the injury. Treatment could be as simple as just rest but severe enough for x-rays and therapy. Long term effects include prolonged headaches, death, and mental problems. It would be easy to assume that a concussion is a minor injury that is not important to treat but this is not the case. Although a concussion might not affect a person tremendously in a short time, not treating it can cause serious health issues.

Concussions can cause harmful long term effect but there are also short term consequences too. For example, if someone where to get a concussion playing football they most likely experience headaches. This happens because a pain-sensitive structure in the brain has been disturbed. Meaning the brain has been irritated and shifted out of place. Headaches can be caused by other things like an overload of stress or dehydration. So do not jump to conclusions thinking that someone has a concussion because they have headaches. If the headaches do happen frequently, see a doctor. Another symptom caused by concussions is lack of concentration and low memory capacity. For example a 9th grade student, at Peninsula Catholic High School, named Miggy Almirante experienced a concussion during one of his basketball games. The next day he couldn't remember anyones name and felt confused. In his circumstan...

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...with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers disease is “progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain.” The study shows that people that previously endured a severe head injury have a high amount of Amyloids, which are “insoluble fibrous proteins.” These, when build up over time, destroy brain tissue. Which obviously leads to loss of memory.

In conclusion concussions are indeed more deadly than most people assume. If the first symptoms go away it does not mean that person has completely recovered. If someone feels better and thinks they can go back to their normal routine, see a doctor for some final advice. The worse thing to do is injury their brain again as it is healing. People should take concussions serious because it is proven to cause mental problems later in their lifetimes.