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sports can be a lot of fun. they're good exercise they get you

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outside and they're a great excuse to wear shirts with numbers on them. yeah [kids on a baseball diamond]

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try doing that at a wedding. however sports aren't all fun and games.

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many sports especially those with physical contact involve a risk of head

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injury, whether it's a tackle and football a check-in hockey or a header [football game, and hockey game shown]

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in soccer, that hits too little ball and far too much head, you always run the

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risk of landing yourself in the hospital and you're not gonna become a

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world-class athlete while lying in a hospital bed. unless your sport of choice [man lying in a bed]

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is racing hospital beds down hallways. hopefully that one's getting added to

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the next Olympic. a common sports related brain injury is a concussion. often when

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playing a sport your body's moving in a certain direction at a high speed.

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however, a sudden impact like a tackle, can cause your body to decelerate in a [man bounces off of standing man]

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hurry. luckily for football players they don't

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need to understand everything about the velocities and acceleration changes

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involved in tackling. they mostly just have to you know hit people. but while it

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may not always be on your mind during play these changes in speed and [football player hits another]

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acceleration can have a huge impact on your brain. literally when your body

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starts to change direction your brain doesn't make that adjustment at the same

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time, and if the changes are drastic enough for your soft brain could end up [head diagram shown]

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slamming right into your very hard skull, which is not great for your brain. it's

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sort of like what happens if you're riding in a bus that makes a sudden stop.

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a bus stop before you knew which might send you flying in the wrong direction [school bus stops abruptly]

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if you're not careful. yeah or you're not buckled in well. the impact that happens

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during a concussion can damage the brain leading to short-term problems like

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dizziness confusion and nausea. as well as long-term problems like headaches

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memory loss depression or in rare cases determination of a multi-million dollar

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contract. your brain's already got enough to deal with so concussions not gonna

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help matters. fortunately there's been some technological process in the [scientists make a presentation]

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concussion Department. well companies have been redesigning helmets to make

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them safer. and sports leagues for younger kids, are limiting physical contact,

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because the best way to avoid the effects of a concussion is to, you know

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never get one in the first place. like at least that's what our friend [swaying man holds up a hand]

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dizzy Danny told us.

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