Wagamaga OP t1_izn5nge wrote on December 10, 2022 at 9:53 AM

Former elite football players may age faster than their more average peers, a new study suggests.

NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses. Two age-related diseases, arthritis and dementia, were also more commonly found in former football players than in other men of the same age.

This research was part of the ongoing Football Players Health Study at Harvard University.

We wanted to know: Are professional football players being robbed of their middle age? Our findings suggest that football prematurely weathers them and puts them on an alternate aging trajectory, increasing the prevalence of a variety of diseases of old age," said senior investigator Rachel Grashow, director of epidemiological research initiatives for the Football Players Health Study.

"We need to look not just at the length of life but the quality of life," she said in a university news release. "Professional football players might live as long as men in the general population, but those years could be filled with disability and infirmity."

https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/athletes-football-nfl/2022/12/09/id/1099912/

NotAnotherEmpire t1_iznnx5e wrote on December 10, 2022 at 1:43 PM

Which is the opposite of what is usually seen in people who exercise frequently. Differences:

Much heavier than average weight for height. Only speed positions are similar to other athletes.
Violent contact sports.

rumora t1_izoa42e wrote on December 10, 2022 at 4:37 PM

There is a huge difference between exercise and high level sports. Professional athletes push their bodies way beyond what is healthy and most of them use PEDs to push it even further. Your joints aren't made to sustain that much stress and the often serious PED use is going to wreak havoc on your organs.

And in the NFL, not only do you need particularly aggressive PED use to get as big and muscular as most of those guys are, but as you said, you add constant and incredibly violent trauma.