Punching people in the face is generally a bad idea. Not only is it likely to get you in trouble, but the face is one big crumple zone. Jaw, teeth, cheekbones, those are all hard and pointy. Your handbones are fragile. If you manage to put power behind the hit, they are going to have a very visible injury, which can put the observers on their side.
I think this description missed the biggest reason that head-blows are bad. Concussions are long-term cumulative. This includes shakes that are FAR gentler than “comatose” levels of head trauma. When someone gets punched in the head, the world becomes slightly more depressed, slightly more demented, and slightly dumber. Never willingly get punched in the head.
Oof, I had a bad concussion earlier this year, and I’d been feeling like I never returned to my full mental acuity, but hadn’t wanted to believe it, and found reason not to: “if concussions leave permanent aftereffects more often than ‘almost never’, I would have heard of it.” Now I have heard of it, and am forced to revise the belief.
I’d probably grieve more, if this news weren’t hot on the tails of a significant improvement in my mental abilities.
(I’ve long suspected I might have early-stage Alzheimer’s caused by decades of profound insomnia, and some recent research out of Harvard Medical says Lithium Orotate might reverse Alzheimer’s progression. Historically I have had brain fog most days to some degree, with a lot of variability. Since trying Lithium Orotate supplementation, I’ve been consistently at “as mentally sharp as I ever routinely am” every day since. Worrying side effects though: kidney and joint pain, which I have never had before. Going to experiment with smaller doses.)
Thank you for sharing.
“Concussions are long-term cumulative” fits neatly into my emerging mental model that daily life actually abounds with avoidable ways to suffer irreversible-under-current-tech harm, including in very minor amounts or normalized ways, such that people routinely accumulate such permanent damage, and that it’s worth my effort to notice and avoid or reduce. I theorize that, for example, some tiny fraction of the dust you inhale gets lodged in the lungs in such an unfortunate orientation that it never leaves, gradually eroding lung function over a lifetime. Scars ~never go away, and incur ongoing costs. Etc.
I think this description missed the biggest reason that head-blows are bad. Concussions are long-term cumulative. This includes shakes that are FAR gentler than “comatose” levels of head trauma. When someone gets punched in the head, the world becomes slightly more depressed, slightly more demented, and slightly dumber. Never willingly get punched in the head.
Oof, I had a bad concussion earlier this year, and I’d been feeling like I never returned to my full mental acuity, but hadn’t wanted to believe it, and found reason not to: “if concussions leave permanent aftereffects more often than ‘almost never’, I would have heard of it.” Now I have heard of it, and am forced to revise the belief.
I’d probably grieve more, if this news weren’t hot on the tails of a significant improvement in my mental abilities.
(I’ve long suspected I might have early-stage Alzheimer’s caused by decades of profound insomnia, and some recent research out of Harvard Medical says Lithium Orotate might reverse Alzheimer’s progression. Historically I have had brain fog most days to some degree, with a lot of variability. Since trying Lithium Orotate supplementation, I’ve been consistently at “as mentally sharp as I ever routinely am” every day since. Worrying side effects though: kidney and joint pain, which I have never had before. Going to experiment with smaller doses.)
Thank you for sharing.
“Concussions are long-term cumulative” fits neatly into my emerging mental model that daily life actually abounds with avoidable ways to suffer irreversible-under-current-tech harm, including in very minor amounts or normalized ways, such that people routinely accumulate such permanent damage, and that it’s worth my effort to notice and avoid or reduce. I theorize that, for example, some tiny fraction of the dust you inhale gets lodged in the lungs in such an unfortunate orientation that it never leaves, gradually eroding lung function over a lifetime. Scars ~never go away, and incur ongoing costs. Etc.