Always protect your head.

Your brain is your most vital organ.

Processing information, regulating your body, and powering your thoughts, movements, and sense of self.

The problem is, you play a sport where head injury is unavoidable.

When you get hit in the head,

your brain slams against the inside of your skull.

The pathways your brain uses to send signals, called axons, stretch and tear.

Some brain cells get damaged, others die.

In response, your brain sends out alarm signals called cytokines.

These signals trigger swelling, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in your brain.

Neuroinflammation is your brain’s healing response,

but if left unchecked, it turns destructive.

Oxidative stress is like rust—tiny particles that eat away at healthy brain cells.

These two secondary effects of head impacts are the underlying causes of long-term brain damage.

They feed off each other—inflammation causes more oxidative stress, and oxidative stress causes more inflammation.

Over time, these effects slow down how brain cells talk to each other.

They mess with your mood, memory, focus, and sleep.

This vicious cycle of biological damage can keep attacking your brain for years, even decades, after the initial hit.