Is it true that football hits take time off of your life?

Question

Is it true that big football hits take time away from your life? And if so, then how much time does it take?

Answer 1

Physical stress & injury in general take time off of your lifespan.

Answer 2

Not sure

Answer 3

Professional football players are now more than twice as likely as Major League Baseball players to die before their 50th birthday, and medical experts say the culprit is probably differing body bulk.

As part of a study of early mortality within the National Football League, Scripps Howard News Service compared the lifespan of 3,850 deceased football players against that of 2,403 dead baseball players.

The study found that baseball players and football players born before 1955 were about equally likely to suffer an early death. But the mortality rates sharply differ among athletes born more recently.

Among the 8,961 pro-football players born in the last 50 years, at least 130 are already dead. Among 4,382 professional baseball players, 31 are known to have died. That means 1 in every 69 football players is dead compared to 1 in every 154 baseball players.

Medical experts were quick to suspect body weight. Offensive and defensive linemen average at least 100 pounds more than most baseball players.

"There certainly seems to be a big difference between baseball players and football players, speaking just from what I see on TV,'' said Dr. Sherry Baron of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. "This comparison is very interesting.''

Baron said she plans to soon repeat her 1994 study of mortality rates within the NFL. She concluded 11 years ago that most NFL players were not dying prematurely, although she said linemen had a 52 percent greater risk of death from heart disease.

The most common causes of death among baseball players are accidents, especially auto accidents, the Scripps Howard study found. Only a third of the baseball players died of medical causes.

But a majority (52 percent) of the deceased football players succumbed to conditions such as coronary disease, stroke and cancer -- diseases known to be more common among obese people.

The deceased baseball players averaged 192 pounds during their athletic careers while the dead football players averaged 238 pounds. Football players who died of medical causes averaged 248 pounds.

"There seems to be a linear relationship between weight and the likelihood of cardiovascular disease,'' said Kevin Guskiewicz, director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina.

Guskiewicz has found increased occurrences of hypertension and heart disease among 2,700 retired NFL players. "It's clearly higher than in the general population,'' he said.

Answer 4

yes

Answer 5

depends on the injury .. the body wasn't created to take such punishment, therefore it lacks the ability to heal as well as if you had not participated in the activity...example drinking causes liver damage and thereby may shorten the life span of the drinker. some injuries are harmless some can be life threatning. but the worst ones are the one left undiagnosed . left untreated they take their toll over time such as head trama: that cause headaches that lead to migranes or vision or hearing loss or even death via blood clot or and anurism and sudden heart failure is always a concern.. consult your trainer after practice or a game.

Answer 6

I heard once that the average life span of an NFL player was 57 years.  It was about 10 years ago when I heard that, so its probably gone up a bit, but I think it is safe to say the punishment can definately shorten the lifespan.

Answer 7

NFL players can suffer multiple concussions during their career and can lead to brain damage and Alzheimer's and as of May 31 of this year 35 Ex-NFL Players Qualified for Dementia-Alzheimer's Assistance from the NFL. I don't know by how much these things reduce a persons life but they lower the quality of a persons life significantly.