Heading a football can significantly affect a player's brain function

Heading a football can significantly affect a player's brain function and memory for 24 hours, a study has found.

Researchers said they had identified "small but significant changes in brain function" after players headed the ball 20 times.

Memory performance was reduced by between 41% and 67% in the 24 hours after routine heading practice.

One of the study's authors suggested football should be avoided ahead of important events like exams.

The University of Stirling study was published in EBioMedicine.

It is the first to detect direct changes in the brain after players were exposed to everyday head impacts, as opposed to clinical brain injuries like concussion.

Researchers fired footballs from a machine designed to simulate the pace and power of a corner kick and asked a group of football players to head a ball 20 times.

The players' brain function and memory were tested before and after the exercise...

Complete article:http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37714830?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-102416