‘Heading’ during football can affect memory, study finds

A study conducted by the University of Stirling, and published in EBioMedicine has suggested that heading a football can significantly affect a player’s brain function and memory, for up to 24 hours.

The research fired footballs from a machined designed to simulate the pace and power of a corner kick and monitored the brain function of a group of football players who headed the ball 20 times. The players’ brain function were tested before and after the exercise.

Brain activity showed that memory performance was reduced by between 41 per cent and 67 per cent following the routine heading practice, but wore off after 24 hours.

Dr Magdalena Letswaart, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Stirling, said the research had been carried out in the light of ‘growing concern’ about links between brain injury in sport and the increased risk of dementia.

"Using a drill most amateur and professional teams would be familiar with, we found there was in fact increased inhibition in the brain immediately after heading and that performance on memory tests was reduced significantly.

"Although the changes were temporary, we believe they are significant to brain health, particularly if they happen over and over again as they do in football heading.

"With large numbers of people around the world participating in this sport, it is important that they are aware of what is happening inside the brain and the lasting effect this may have."

Psychology professor Lindsay Wilson from Stirling University commented: "There's been scepticism about whether there is a connection between soccer heading and changes in the brain, but this is evidence of both changes in inhibition and also in cognition immediately after heading.

"I think that together with evidence from previous studies it begins to paint a picture that raises concerns.

"What we really need here is more research to try and better understand what is going on."