How Does Football Affect Mental Health

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Does playing football negatively affect mental health? Playing football has a negative effect on mental health because of the collisions on the field, the lack of medical care on the sidelines, and the physical and emotion stress players undergo. These factors all contribute to worsening the state of mental health of a former or current football player. According to statistical data received from the NFL, it is estimated that nearly one-third of former players will develop dementia, Alzheimer's disease or other debilitating neurological disorders like Parkinson's and ALS. Collisions on the field contribute to this effect on mental health by causing head injuries such as concussions. The lack of medical care on the sidelines results in players not getting the …show more content…
Most games are around 60 minutes long, that’s 60 minutes of collisions on the field and 60 minutes to pick up a life changing injury. For example, retired quarterback Don Majkowski has undergone multiple surgeries to repair injuries that occurred during his NFL career and offensive lineman Jerry Kramer is currently putting off hip replacement. The injury toll certainly piles up; however most players are still happy they played the game. A survey conducted on 500 retired players told the whole story, “The Post's online survey of more than 500 retired players paints a rare portrait of the toll a career in the NFL has on the long-term health of those who competed in the bruising game. The results also present a striking paradox: Nine in 10 said they're happy they played the sport. But fewer than half would recommend children play it today” (Maese par6). Players might be happy that they played the game, but that does not make it any less dangerous on the body and as stated by Scott Clement, “If the NFL confers wealth--a rookie's base pay next season will be $405,000--it exacts a heavy price: lifelong hurt”

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