Playing American football before age 12 is linked to long-term neuropsychiatric and cognitive problems

__________ Tack­le foot­ball before age 12 may boost risks of cog­ni­tive, mood dis­or­ders (Ars Tech­ni­ca): “Tak­ing hard knocks ear­ly in life could shove foot­ball play­ers toward neu­ro­log­i­cal prob­lems lat­er, a new study sug­gests. Among 214 for­mer ama­teur and pro­fes­sion­al male foot­ball play­ers, those who start­ed play­ing early—particularly before the age of 12—had greater risks of…

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Controversy brewing around the NFL, concussions, research funding and conflicts of interest

The NFL Needs Dis­tance From Its Brain-Injury Fund­ing (The Wall Street Jour­nal): “Despite its immense pop­u­lar­i­ty among spec­ta­tors and play­ers, foot­ball is fac­ing an exis­ten­tial threat due to the long-term health risks pre­sent­ed by repet­i­tive injuries to the head. A new dis­ease has even been asso­ci­at­ed with these injuries—chronic trau­mat­ic encephalopa­thy, or CTE, the sub­ject of 

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