I was watching back on some old rugby league matches the other day, a hobby that I’ve developed over my time off from uni and work, and really enjoyed the grittiness of old school tough blokes and the amount of physicality their body endures over the course of a match. Its really quite amazing to watch, the extent of exertion to which a person is willing to put their bodies through in order to win or compete with another human being, it really is the closest thing we will ever come to witnessing the ancient times of Spartan warriors and Gladiators in the coliseum.

 

Having watched young athletes my whole life, I know how serious an injury can get. Even the smallest of limbs  can be quite gruesome and agonising when injured and has since taught me the importance of making sure your body is prepared when putting it to the test.

Recently however, the amount of trauma caused to ones head is something that gets called into question. At first, and as a former athlete and current lover of all contact sport, you really don’t think too much of the actual trauma and seriousness of any head injury. I mean  if you’re not bleeding or decapitated then there really shouldn’t be a problem right?

Most of you now, are probably thinking of how stupid that sounds, I mean some of the most violent and lethal threats to the human body are all injuries of the internal and are somewhat unseen, but for many contact athletes, the injury to your internal organs are somewhat out of sight and subsequently out of mind.

This is partly because a lot of these guys and gals survive off the income they earn through their respected sports and, as we all know, have no other choice but to keep on pushing through, just to make a living.

I mean look at guys like Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer of all time, and for a large portion of his life suffered Parkinson’s disease, many people of which associate it with his years of getting punched in the head.

For some, the long-term affects are life changing and for others its a minor side effect that they shrug off and get used to. The point is though, that the potential problems that all of these athletes face  are now or have had a significant impact on their own lives.

 

There’s this animation I found on twitter, it shows an accurate representation of what happens to your brain whenever you get concussed or suffer a heavy knock to the head. Your skull acts as a helmet because the brain itself is quite delicate, so seeing your brain literally shake from the impact of getting hit that hard and becoming concussed is actually quite scary.

 

Looking back on watching live rugby matches and the difference between that and watching something on T.V, you can actually have a real understanding of how detached we all are to the athletes and what their bodies go through. You see when you’re there, on the sideline or in the crowd, watching bodies collide in such a heavy fashion time after time, and quite possibly the same people getting knocked over and over, it is only then, that you realise the full extent to which these athletes exert themselves and their bodies.

None of it is actually healthy, and yet they do it anyway.

Before I watched any kind of professional fighting, I distanced myself from the contact sporting world and just viewed it as a sport like any other, partly because I myself had stopped competing. But its not until you see a guy or girl go into a ring or cage and watch as they try to dismantle another person while getting punched and twisted themselves, do you actually realise the seriousness of this problem.

 

 

So what happens when someone suffers a head injury? Well, as I just learned very recently from one of my favourite podcasts “The Fighter and The Kid”, a person’s endocrine system could really take some damage. Now for those of you who don’t know, your endocrine system is basically the collection of glands that produce the hormones that regulate things like your metabolism, your growth and development, tissue function, YOUR SEXUAL FUNCTION, sleep, mood and a bunch of other things as well. So basically your head gets messed up, as does the rest of your body and way of life as well. Even your serotonin levels, THE THING THAT’S RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR HAPPINESS, gets whacked out of shape and could severely alter your perception of life.

 

Now if that doesn’t scare you enough, think about how crappy you feel afterwards as well.   A myriad of mental health illnesses start to creep in as a result and a common diagnosis of depression is often identified from the shifts in your body.

Imagine that for a second, after all that physical torment and stress on your body, you undergo intense mental torture as well.

 

Now, I’m not saying that we should stop fighting or any contact sport at all. But bear this all in mind, feel for the people involved and really understand what each and every individual goes through when they choose to step onto a field and into a cage or ring and the consequences of their choice just for your entertainment. Remember the sacrifice and appreciate what these real life warriors go through day in and day out, week after week for years and years. Because unlike the rest of us, they may not be living the most fulfilling life that you or I may get the chance to lead.