There is an increasing amount of scientific research that is being published around head injuries or traumas and the effects that they are having on the long term mental health of sports men and women. A recent study in the UK called for children's football (soccer) to ban the heading of the ball as there are suggestions that the repetitive impact over a sustained period of time can lead to health problems later in life. Furthermore, we see ongoing court battles where NFL stars are seeking massive compensation over health problems related to head injury and of course in many countries the debate over making cycle helmets a legal requirement continues to rumble on. Considering whether these reports are accurate and the measures suggested necessary is not the purpose of this blog. There are many arguments that show the benefits of sport will continue to far outweigh the consequences and I'd like to add this argument to that pile. 

Story telling has been a key part of human civilisation for nearly 30,000 years and as such there is no surprise that it continues to be fundamental to everyday well-being

What inspired me to write this blog was a piece on Test Match Special , a BBC radio show that provides live ball by ball commentary on England's cricket matches both at home and abroad and has been doing so since 1957. Anyone who has listened to Test Match Special will know that it is far more than just sports commentary, the team who present the show are engaging, witty and very very easy to listen to. I'm not going to lie, cricket can at times be painfully slow and boring, but the ladies and gentleman who work on Test Match Special are able to bring not only insight into the game itself but also a lot of fun, anecdotes from across the centuries, wonderful interviews and thoughtful pieces to the air when perhaps the sport alone isn't enough to sustain a listener's interest. This is one such story from yesterday on TMS and it's quite a moving one. 

The original BBC recording is here although non-UK residents may not be able to listen to it. A lower quality youtube recording is below.

Was the incident described above just a coincidence or had listening to his beloved radio show and the sport it focuses on helped to bring a dying man back to a level of consciousness that allowed him to say goodbye to his family? 

I'd like to think that it's the later and that the connections that most of us here on Scorum share with sport had a positive effect on his health. For all the research that there is linking sport with dementia, there are now increasing efforts to use sports and the memories and experiences of sport to help fight one the fastest growing illnesses in the world. 

Why are memories of sport so important in the fight against dementia? 

Spend some time on Scorum and you'll soon find people reminiscing about sporting events, contests and athletes. Just yesterday, I was reading a blog about German football personalities written by @sportsgeek. The article immediately sparked up a memory I had of some cricketers from past generations who also had "interesting" personalities and so I shared those thoughts in a comment. After all, sharing stories, anecdotes and metaphors is at the heart of what it is to be sports fan and one of the reasons that Scorum exists in the first place. 

This article sparked multiple memories and lead to me recalling several anecdotes of loveable bad boys in sport

Learning about sports stats, facts and figures is one thing but when we are being told a sporting story or anecdote our brain is activated in an entirely different way. As well as the parts of the brain that decipher language and information (needed for the stats), hearing a story also stimulates any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events within that story. Furthermore whenever we hear a story (sporting of otherwise), our brains will always try and relate it to one of our existing experiences or memories (just like I did in the example above). For suffers of dementia accessing old memories while simultaneously  creating new ones is a key part of treatment. Going back to the TMS piece above, the style with which that particular show is presented ticks all the boxes in suggesting that engaging with sport and sport related stories could have had a real benefit for that specific dementia sufferer. 

Without high-tech imaging of the brain the above gives a pretty decent pictorial example of how hearing a sporting story would stimulate your brain 

As members of the Scorum community we can all agree that sport is a powerful medium providing memories of wonderful games, sporting heroes and fantastic victories. But beyond that, being part of groups that share a common sporting interest also helps to build friendships and develop a sense of community that many dementia suffers struggle to find as a result of their illness. Talking about current sporting events and cultures of the time also helps to give dementia suffers their identity back and reconnects them to the generations around them whom they can often find themselves isolated from.

Sporting Memories, a registered charity in England, provides dementia suffers with the chance to share sporting stories as part of a holistic treatment 

Fortunately there are groups and charities like Sporting Memories who work to give elderly dementia suffers the opportunity to share their stories. The fantastic job they are doing should serve as an example to all Scorum contributors about the ultimate value of community and sports. 

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