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Do concussions cause early death? · Stuff You Should Know

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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
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  Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know
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  Speaker 1: from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm with Charles W. Bryant and I am
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Josh Clark. Yeah. How you doing? Good man? What? Good man? Okay?
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: M ang Chuck? Have you been concussed? No? Man? Are
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  Speaker 1: you sure? I'm acting like you're showing some classic symptoms here.
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  Speaker 1: You know, if I was concussed, you know what that
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  Speaker 1: would mean. What that would mean my brain moved and
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  Speaker 1: hit my skull. Yes, that's what a concussion is. This
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  Speaker 1: is a new, fresh, segue free edition of Stuff You
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  Speaker 1: Should Know? Right, You like this one? I want it so?
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  Speaker 1: Uh yeah. Concussion there. It's in the news all over
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  Speaker 1: the place today, right oh big time is the NFL? Yes, right, Chuck.
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  Speaker 1: A concussion is put simply where, uh, your skull stops moving,
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  Speaker 1: but your brain keeps moving and it slaps the inside
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  Speaker 1: of your skull, which is pretty hard. I'm kind of
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  Speaker 1: surprised the human body didn't. We've evolved in such great
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  Speaker 1: ways to prevent things like that. I'm surprised there wasn't
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  Speaker 1: like a built in Hans system like NASCAR uses something
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  Speaker 1: like a web around the brain. We have that memory.
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  Speaker 1: Remember that's what shrinks when you have a hangover. Well,
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  Speaker 1: it clearly doesn't work that well if you can still
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  Speaker 1: hit your skull. That's what I'm saying. It's true. I
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  Speaker 1: wish it was such that concussions wouldn't even happen. We
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  Speaker 1: need like a padding of foam rubber like in between,
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  Speaker 1: like an interior football helmet. Right, let's get on that,
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  Speaker 1: all right, No bell prize, Gonna go do some gene
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  Speaker 1: splicing after this. It would end up being an Igno
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  Speaker 1: Bell Prize with us though. Yeah, lots of chuck. Where
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  Speaker 1: does the word concussion come from? Josh? It is Latin,
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  Speaker 1: like most medical terms, and I believe the word is concuteer,
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  Speaker 1: which means which means to shake violently. Yeah, so there
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  Speaker 1: you have it. So your brain is being shaken violently,
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  Speaker 1: and uh it's nay good when that happens. My friend
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  Speaker 1: Chris Jones was I think his first article that he
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  Speaker 1: wrote for this. He's a freelancer. Uh and as he
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  Speaker 1: put it, un of yours, I would say, more buddy
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  Speaker 1: than a crony. He didn't get him hired. Oh yeah, okay, yeah,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: he's a crony. Okay, Um, he's good, he is. He
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  Speaker 1: is a good guy, he writes for the Motley fool To.
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  Speaker 1: Actually he's all over the place. Um he wrote that,
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  Speaker 1: in an ironic twist, the one bone specifically designed to
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  Speaker 1: shield our gray matter from injury ends up doing the
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  Speaker 1: most damage. Great sentence. Yeah, So I mean, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: we need like something a football helmet around our brain
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  Speaker 1: within our skull. Yeah, or just don't hit your head
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  Speaker 1: hard on something, right, which apparently is a little more
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  Speaker 1: difficult than one would think. And I think that one
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  Speaker 1: of the reasons we're podcasting about this now. I was like,
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  Speaker 1: you said that it's kind of big. NFL is all
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  Speaker 1: over it. Well, you know, the NFL is doing the
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  Speaker 1: opposite of being all over it, and it's getting lots
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  Speaker 1: of press attention. Now. They're all over it now, though,
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  Speaker 1: are they? Yeah? Yeah, just this week? Right, okay, all right? Um.
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  Speaker 1: I think one of the one of the reasons that
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  Speaker 1: we're podcasting about concussions that this article got written is
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  Speaker 1: it's big. It's big. Right now we're finally starting to
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  Speaker 1: realize that it's not you don't just get your bell
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  Speaker 1: wrong or you're not a little rattled. What we're starting
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  Speaker 1: to see is that concussions lead very easily to early death,
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  Speaker 1: specifically multiple concussions or dementia or Alzheimer's. Yeah, bad stuff,
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  Speaker 1: all from one horrible moment or or several. Yeah, so Chuck,
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  Speaker 1: what are some of the ways you can be concussed?
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  Speaker 1: I've been concussed and I can't get up. Uh. Actually
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  Speaker 1: what you should do is not get up, but we'll
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  Speaker 1: get to that too. Yeah, so Chuck, what are some
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  Speaker 1: of the symptoms of a concussion. Let's say you are
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  Speaker 1: a University of Georgia UM cheerleader, sure, and you want
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  Speaker 1: to come over and diagnose poor Baccari Rambo, who is unconscious? Right? What?
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  Speaker 1: What's what's just? What? What? What are you looking for? Well?
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  Speaker 1: I would look at Baccari first. If he was nauseous
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  Speaker 1: or uncoordinated, no balance, confused, had a slurred speech or
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  Speaker 1: memory loss, or delayed reaction time, that would be my
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  Speaker 1: immediate diagnosis. If I'm looking at him and I see
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  Speaker 1: some of those symptoms that he might in fact be concussed.
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  Speaker 1: Those are some outward symptoms, right, There's also ones that
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  Speaker 1: the concussed person will experience like, Um, sensitivity to light
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  Speaker 1: and sound, yes, Josh, that is called phonophobia and photophobia.
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  Speaker 1: Loud loud noises and bright lights no good if you're
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  Speaker 1: concussed loud noises, right, yeah, you don't want that. Um.
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  Speaker 1: It can make you dizzy, give you a headache, make
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  Speaker 1: you nauseated. Um, it's just bad stuff. Your sleep, Um,
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  Speaker 1: your ability anxiety, as far as emotional impact, right, depression, sure,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, your ability to think. Actually, um, A lot
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  Speaker 1: of times there is an accompanying amnesia to concussion. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and it's usually immediate, like after if the person loses consciousness. Um,
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  Speaker 1: they they when they wake up, they may have some
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  Speaker 1: sort of uh amnesia, or even if they don't lose consciousness,
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  Speaker 1: they can still have some amnesia for you know, from
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  Speaker 1: the moment that impact took place, the moment their brain
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  Speaker 1: slept the inside of their skull. Yeah, so that's what.
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  Speaker 1: That's why when you see like on a football sideline
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  Speaker 1: or in a boxing ring, there's a just a battery
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  Speaker 1: of questions. I'll be asking like who are you, do
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  Speaker 1: you know where you are? Um? And if they say
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  Speaker 1: something like you know, I'm playing football, they need to
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  Speaker 1: get a little more specific than that, what city are
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  Speaker 1: we in, what team are we playing? Right? And it's
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  Speaker 1: time to get out of the game, right, which is
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  Speaker 1: kind of a it's it's difficult. Actually, did you see
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  Speaker 1: that testimony by Ray Lewis. Yeah, Hey, they were talking
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  Speaker 1: about getting out of the game, and you know, even
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  Speaker 1: knowing just a little bit that we know now about concussions,
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  Speaker 1: Lewis was still like, depends on what's going on in
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  Speaker 1: the game, you know, Um, from what what I understand,
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  Speaker 1: if you have a concussion, you don't go back in
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  Speaker 1: that game. Well, as of yesterday, that's the new rule,
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  Speaker 1: is it. Yes, let's talk about then Let's let's back
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  Speaker 1: up a second, because the NFL has long um been
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  Speaker 1: not too sensitive to concussions and taking a lot of
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  Speaker 1: heat over the years for having their team doctors allow
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  Speaker 1: guys to go back into soon or leading up to
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  Speaker 1: the player who you know, wildly under reports concussions NFL
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  Speaker 1: players do, or all athletes, I would imagine, and uh,
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  Speaker 1: there's a guy named John McKay and he was on
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  Speaker 1: the San Diego Chargers in the early seventies. Sadly, he
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: played with a guy named Ralph Winzel Uh for the
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  Speaker 1: entire nineteen seventy two season and neither one of them
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  Speaker 1: remember playing with each other as teammates. Wow, very sad.
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  Speaker 1: So McKay's wife led this charge. Um to get this
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  Speaker 1: on the NFL's radar, because she started making calls and found,
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  Speaker 1: she said, at least twenty people whose husbands were suffering
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  Speaker 1: from Alzheimer's in early dementia. And we're talking age. There's
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  Speaker 1: others that are suffering as early as their thirties and forties.
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  Speaker 1: So um, she wrote Commissioner Tagliboo at the time a letter.
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  Speaker 1: He got the ball rolling and they created the plan
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  Speaker 1: which was McKay's number, and they now families can receive
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  Speaker 1: up to eighty eight thousand dollars a year for care
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  Speaker 1: if they from the NFL. Yeah, if they qualify. That's
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  Speaker 1: so that happened. And then two days ago the NFL
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  Speaker 1: because the concussions have been big news this year, especially
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  Speaker 1: lot of high profile guys Ben Roethlisberger for the Steelers
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  Speaker 1: and a couple of other high profile dudes have been
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  Speaker 1: concussed Hurt Warner, and the new rule takes effect this week.
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  Speaker 1: It's like an immediate rule, which is unusual. And uh,
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  Speaker 1: if you have fleeting symptoms you're allowed to return to
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  Speaker 1: the game, but if you have amnesia, poor balance, or
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  Speaker 1: an abnormal neurological examination, you cannot go back into the
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  Speaker 1: game at all. That's that's a good rule. It's very
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  Speaker 1: good rule. Although from what Chris Jones says, if you've
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  Speaker 1: been concussed, if you show any evidence of concussion, you
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't be going back into the game at all. Well yeah, sure,
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  Speaker 1: I guess baby steps right. And I think they're also
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  Speaker 1: bringing in for the post game evaluations after, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the coming days after uh. They have now required this
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  Speaker 1: independent doctors have to perform the test and not the
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  Speaker 1: team doctor, because if you've seen any given Sunday, I
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  Speaker 1: think the notion of the team doctor is kind of
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  Speaker 1: a joke. In the NFL UM I read about an
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  Speaker 1: other group of ex athletes led by a guy named
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  Speaker 1: Kris Nowinski. He played football for Harvard, but then he
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  Speaker 1: went onto the w w E and he had several
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  Speaker 1: concussions and then took a kick to the chin and
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  Speaker 1: that was it lights out for him career. Over um
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  Speaker 1: and he started to read studies on concussions because he
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  Speaker 1: had like headaches for five years and depressed depressions. A
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  Speaker 1: big big part of comorbidity of concussions UM. And he
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  Speaker 1: ended up founding the Sports Legacy Institute with a guy
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  Speaker 1: named Dr Robert Cantu, who I know, whose name you'll
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  Speaker 1: recognize because he founded one of the UM I guess
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  Speaker 1: indices for grading UH concussions. Yes, um. But they they
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  Speaker 1: got together and created the Sports Legacy Institute, and they
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  Speaker 1: take donations of ex football players brains once they die
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  Speaker 1: for study and the study that they've been doing together.
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  Speaker 1: So basically no Winsky recruits families to donate their dead,
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  Speaker 1: you know, football players brains, and then Canto turns around
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  Speaker 1: and dissects the brains at this place called the Center
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  Speaker 1: for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which he co directs.
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  Speaker 1: And this group, the c s t E are finding
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  Speaker 1: some really startling stuff in the brains of people who
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: are like forty fifty. They got their hands on a
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  Speaker 1: brain of an eighteen year old kid who was a
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  Speaker 1: multi sports athlete died at eight team. They got his brain,
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  Speaker 1: and he his brain and the other brains that they've
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  Speaker 1: looked at so far all look like eighty year old
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  Speaker 1: UM Alzheimer's patients brains. Well that's I was just about
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  Speaker 1: to say those Philadelphia Eagle former Eagle named Andre Waters
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  Speaker 1: that committed suicide last year. He was forty four, and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: they said the same thing. He had the brain of
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  Speaker 1: an eight year old Alzheimer's patient. Yeah, and he's not
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  Speaker 1: the only one. He committed suicide. UM. Some other guys
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: have been drinking themselves to death. UM. A guy named
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  Speaker 1: Ted Johnson who used to play for the Pats um
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  Speaker 1: has pre he's donated his brain when he dies. H
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  Speaker 1: And I think he's in his like thirties or early forties.
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  Speaker 1: And um, he spent two years with his curtains clothes
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  Speaker 1: hold up in his house from just major depression. M
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: sad Man. I'm a huge NFL fan. It's just you
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: always hear about and these are just the head injuries.
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  Speaker 1: You always hear about these old warriors from before they
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: made a ton of money that are like destitute and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: they can't walk. And that's what they think that that's
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: another thing in an ability to work to manage money
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: like that maybe one of the reasons why a lot
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: of these guys go bankrupt. It's like eight or seventy
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  Speaker 1: of NFL players go bankrupts in like four years actually
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  Speaker 1: after leaving well the average uh lifespan of or not lifespan,
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  Speaker 1: but tenure of an NFL player is really short. I
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  Speaker 1: mean it's like two or two seasons or something especial. See,
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  Speaker 1: if you've suffered multiple concussions, Apparently one concussion, your brain
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  Speaker 1: can restore its faculties, can umully itself. Yeah, but if
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  Speaker 1: you have a concussion, then you you have a secondary
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  Speaker 1: concussion um before the first one has time to heal,
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  Speaker 1: or you have multiple concussions over your lifetime, you're in
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  Speaker 1: deep trouble. Yes, Josh, that what you just talked about.
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  Speaker 1: When you have the second one before the first one heal,
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  Speaker 1: that is called potentially second impact syndrome, and you can die. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's way worse because the what the arteries in the
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  Speaker 1: brain swell. Yeah, it's it triggers a train, a chain reaction.
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  Speaker 1: It starts with the disordered cerebral vascular autoregulation, and that
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  Speaker 1: means the brain loses its ability to keep the rhine
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  Speaker 1: amount of blood pressure basically, so the brain swells and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: that leads to UH congestion and pressure and herniation and death. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Once once your brain stem is herniated, once it's um
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  Speaker 1: no longer getting it supply of blood and oxygen and
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: everything it needs. You know, there goes your breathing and
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: your heartbeat and all the very primal basic stuff that's
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  Speaker 1: controlled by the brainstem. I'm surprised this hasn't happened yet,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm surprised actually what brains herniation. I'm surprised an
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  Speaker 1: NFL player has not died on the football field yet.
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  Speaker 1: That's shocking to me that that has not happened. And
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  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna take something like that. Unfortunately, although
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  Speaker 1: that they're going in the right direction now, I used
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to think that it would take something that drastic to
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: really make drastic changes. Maybe who knows. Maybe it's not
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: that much of a blood sport. It's very physical support.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: But you know, people don't go out like hockey. Yeah,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: people want to see somebody get their throat slit by Like,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: did you never saw that that happened where hockey goalie
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: had his jugular vein cut in a in a hockey game.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Is it on video somewhere? It's gotta be. I saw
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: it on TV when it happened, like it was a
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: while ago, was probably ten years ago. But the guy
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: like Ben down on his knees and grabs his throat
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and in like three seconds you see a pool of
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: blood go from like a drop to like eight feet
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: in diameter. Now he didn't die. In fact, he was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: back with the team the next day. They sewed him,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: sewed him up and like refilled the pump full blood
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and he was good to go. There you go. Yeah, man,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: what a time to be alive. So we should talk
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  Speaker 1: about treatment and uh stuff like that, okay, because you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: if it's not just NFL players you get concussed at home,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: your kid can easily get concussed. The leading head injury
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: for children. Yeah, I wanted to mention that, Chuck, Like,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: we've been talking about the NFL, but the NFL isn't
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the only group out there playing football. Um, there's tons
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: of kids. And actually I was reading an article by
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: forward right who you don't want to see? Have you
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: ever seen a picture of Frank Nafford. It's one of
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: those ones where you're like, man, I wish I didn't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: see that. This is nothing like what I thought the
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: guy looked like. And really that's what Frank l DeFord
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: looks like. Wow, I know I have seen him, actually have,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: but like your local shopping mall like change. Um Well,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: he wrote an article about concussions and he was basically
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: goating the NFL into doing something. Um And he also
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: points out that it's not just the NFL who like suiting.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Up at one point two million high school students every
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: year play football, and they apparently are much more prone
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: to concussions than older guys because they're like the impacts
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: are actually at a higher velocity than in the NFL
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: because they're not worried about their careers, are trying to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: get to the career, so they're killing anybody who gets
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: in their way, Whereas an NFL player would be more
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: likely to Number one, he knows his way around the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: football field, he knows what he's doing. He's been playing
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: for a long time, right And number two he's worried
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: about making it out the next Sunday. Two, so's gonna
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: take it a little easier on himself too. Well, maybe
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: they also under report in the NFL, though, just because
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: they don't want to like kind word. Called out Ben
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Roethlisberger last week for being a wuss basically for not
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: playing because he had headaches. A week later, come on, heinz, Yeah,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: he felt bad for it. He did. Yeah, good he should.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Um so Chuck, Yes, we were talking about treatment. Yes, Josh.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: The first thing you should do if you even suspect
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: your concussed is stop whatever the heck you were doing
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to get concussed. Do not drop and roll either, just stop.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Just just stop at the stop no movement. And if
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you should also we should also mentioned that whole thing
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: about don't go to sleep if you're concussed. Not true, No,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: it's not rest is actually exactly what you know. Chris
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: points out sleep deprivation is not a good treatment for
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a concussion. I wouldn't think so. So you should stop
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: what you're doing immediately. Um, if you think it's could
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: possibly be worse than a concussion, you should, you know,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: immediately go to the doctor. Probably get a CT scan
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: or mri I. Although the weird thing is that they
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: can't you can't see a concussion, right like you can't
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: diagnose a concussion from an m r I or CT scan.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: What they're doing when they do skin you was ruling
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: out other types of um traumatic brain injury, Yeah, like
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: internal bleeding and that kind of thing. So, uh, a
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: minority of uh the cases you you will have something
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: called post concussion syndrome, and that can be a couple
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: of weeks or months of side effects basically prolonged everything
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: we talked about, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, nausea, that kind of thing.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: But that doesn't always happen. That's why concussions are like
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: still sort of a mystery. Sometimes it sometimes it happens,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. Some some people recover faster than others.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: It's really hard to diagnose, like you said, because you
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: can't see it and people under report it. So it's
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: really you're up against the battle here trying to get
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: it diagnosed and treated correctly. Definitely, but I think groups
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: like um, the cst E is that what it was called. Sure, Yeah,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I think so. Um they you know, once, once they've
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: been cracking open the brains, I think the mysteries are
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: starting to be solved a little more. Um. We talked
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: about how they look like the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: One of the reasons they draw that comparison is not
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: just because the symptoms are the same. They actually have
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: protein tangles that are characteristic of Alzheimer's in the brains
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: of multiple concussion sufferers. UM, so they're they're the brains
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: can't communicate the brain, the neurons can't communicate with each
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: other any longer. Basically, stuff, these protein buildups that should
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: have been carried out his waist aren't any longer. And
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: now they're just coming up the works, which can actually
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: kill the brain cells, which leads to brain death, which
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: leads to death. Wow. Yeah, much more serious. And people think,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: have you ever been concussed? I don't think I have.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I think I have been a couple of times. My
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: little girlfriend has. Really Yeah, I got hit in the
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: head with a softball bat once and I've never had
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: my bell rung like that before. Yeah, not like Managine,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: like the dude was in the on deck circle and
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I walked up and didn't see him right there? Did
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: you go unconscious? But I staggered and you know, saw
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: angels above my head. Actually, I may have been concussed
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: because I had the same the same symptoms after I
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: was shooting it a little propane tank with the high
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: powered rifle. I'm not kidding. We should say you should
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: never ever do something that you think that this. Every
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: podcast should start out with a disclaimer, like, don't do
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: what Josh talks about. Um and I didn't have the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: stock against your shoulder from onst my shoulders. I had
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: an under in my armpit and the thing had a
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: scope and it was to boom, and um, I just
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: looked at my friend and handed him the gun and
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: kind of staggered off. And yeah, I was seeing all
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: sorts of chicks on YouTube. If you searched girl with shotgun,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: there's like hundreds of videos of girls that don't know
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: how to shoot a rifle properly and getting knocked out.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: That's exactly who And it is not funny on YouTube.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: It's funny because they put the I didn't get knocked out,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: but I still have a scar. You see, I see
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the little crescent right there, that's from the scope. Yeah,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I bet we've both been concussed. Jerry's like, let's move along.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Who cares if you've been concussed. We should finish up
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Josh with a little debate. There's some debate in the
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: medical community about whether it is a structural or functional
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: issue with the damage. Yeah, I think I think that
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the opening up of the brains is starting to show
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: that it's um structural. And do you think so? Yeah,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the protein tangles is definitely structural. But I guess it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: would be both because it's in the structural changes are
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: interfering with the function. Well yeah, but some people say
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that since a concussion is short lived and you fully recover,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: then it may not be structural. Maybe it's from multiple
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: concussions or the severity of the concussion. That'd be my guess. Yea,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: they both have good points. Do you got anything else, buddy?
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Uh No, that's about it. I think where your bicycle helmets? Kids?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: That's another one. Always always wear your seatbelt. Auto accidents
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: are another major source of concussions. Horseback riding incidents, yeah,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: bikes are huge though. Bikes sure, Um, falling in any
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: any little kids too are in particular danger because they
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: haven't gotten their their their coordination, they don't have their
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: sea legs yet, so they fall over, hit their head
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and then actually they can prevent their development further on
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: in life. Right Um yeah, I think, uh, just being
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: smart and trying to keep your head safe. And and kids,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: if you're out there playing like touch football and you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: get you know, tackled, and your head hits the ground
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: real hard, seriously, stop playing. Your friends might make fun
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: of you, but you know, tell him if bign Roethlisberger
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: can take himself out of a game that I can.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: That's what I would say. That's good stuff. Who's ah,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: So that's concussions uh. And if you want to learn
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: more about it, you might want to type the word
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: concussion uh into the handy search bar how stuff works
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: dot com. Uh. And always listen to your uncle Chuck too.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: That was really good advice, Chuck. Thank you, Josh. So
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: this means it's time for listener Mayo. I'm a professional uncle,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: by the way, uncle to Reagan Shelby Abbey and no one,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know that your professional or you paid for that. No,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: but I'm good at it. I'm sure you are. It's
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: a good it's a good gig, all right. I've got
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: two quickies from two cute little kids who wrote and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: I can never turn these down? Are you uncle to
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: these kids? Now? This comes from Will in Arlington, Virginia.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: He's twelve. Hi, guys. After hearing your podcast How Flirting Works,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I realized how much I flirt with girls on a
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: daily basis. With me being twelve and relationships and dates
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: being just around the corner, I feel middle school would
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: be the perfect time to fetch myself a gal. You're kidding.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I know. I was not like this when I was twelve.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I was like meet girls? Uh? Was that me when
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I was swell for me? Thank God I'm married. I
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: do like some girls, but I'm too shy to tell them.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I also think some girls like me, but they're too
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: shy to tell me. I feel left out, So please
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: help me. Did you give me some tips on getting
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: a girl? Maybe some things I should do or tell
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: them and know, Josh, I will not moon them. Could
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: you give me a shout out as well? Then any
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: girls who like me, we'll hear the shout out and
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: they will be impressed. So this is the shout out.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Did you didn't say his last name? Did you don't
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: think we're out to just Will in Arlington, Virginia twelve?
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: So will We'll say? Like we said in the Flirting podcast,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that my advice at your age, my friend, if you
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: want to get ahead of the game, be nice to girls,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: because a lot of guys that age think it's fun
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to kind of tease and not be nice to girls.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And you learned later on that being nice to girls
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: will get you farther. You learn that now, little buddy,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: then you will be ahead of your peers. That's great again,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: great advice, Chuck and be funny. That was the other one, right,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Sure you got anything? Uh? Confidence will confidence? Have comp vidence,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and don't just fetch a gal. To fetch a gal,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: make sure that you like the girl and she likes you,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and you both treat each other right, and just go
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: from there. But treat her with respect. You'll fetch a gal,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: all right? Sure? Okay, so this comes from this next
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: one is from Katie, who was a freshman in high
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: school in Florida. Unfortunately, because she could potentially be hooked
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: up with will Uh, Katie wrote us a poem. I
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: was really sad when Hiku theater ended, which it has,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to write in with a poem, but
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: didn't have the inspiration. Luckily a bird provided. That's life
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: for me to write this for you guys, Could you
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: read this one? It's very good, oh bird, Your short
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: or long existence may or may not have been wonderful.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Your mate, girlfriend or mother will miss you. Parentheses, maybe
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: we will mourn you forever or until we forget. We
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: will never forget your plight to get to the cafeteria.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: But alas the window was in the way the windex
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: it is clean with is your murderer. Your vengeance will
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: go und and we aren't sorry at all. Dear bird,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: all your dreams were broken in an instant like your neck. Oh,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: dear Bertie, your life is over now, and that is awesome.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: It is. That's Kate, Katie, Katie. He's a freshman in
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: high school in uh Florida. Katie hates birds. Concussed bird,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: which is no debt. So those are two cute little
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: kids that wrote in and they like that. Thank you both,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Katie and Will and all of our young listeners. We
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: think very highly of you. And you know what, let's
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: send to leave at that. We think highly of all
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: of our listeners, don't each other. We also think especially
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: highly of our listeners who donate to Kiva. Yeah, Keiva
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: dot org. We have a membership loan team. Yeah you heard.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Our team is so serious. It's awesome too. Do We
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: almost have one thousand members on our team almost. I
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: think that makes us like the tenth largest something like that.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Pretty cool. Um, So yeah, if you want to join
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: our Keiva team, we'd love it if you did. Um.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: You can make a donation as low as twenty five
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: bucks and it gets repaid. Kiva also has gift certificates
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: for Christmas. For Christmas or any holiday that you give
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: a gift on right chunture, you can go to www
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: dot kiva dot org, slash team slash stuff you Should
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Know and join and donate right and if you want
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: to send Chuck in Eye an email um whether you
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: are twelve, fourteen eighty two or the wholdest living person
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: on the planet, you can send that to Stuff podcast
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. For more on this
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works
• 26:42
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• 26:46
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• 26:51
  Speaker 1: brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
• 26:54
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