Athletes, sleep and your advice

Dr Jeffrey Kutcher and his team are looking into the brains of athletes.  Kutcher is concerned that athletes are more prone to nerve and brain problems.  It’s not just a matter of getting your head banged around – although that is a concern.  We’ve written before about concerns that many athletes return to the game too soon after head trauma, which could lead to post-traumatic migraine (PTM) among other things.

But the heat of competition and the physical exertion can make other problems worse, such as sleep disorders and migraine (which often go together, come to think of it).  Not only could sleep problems emerge, a lack of sleep could bring on migraine attacks.

At the University of Michigan, Kutcher and his colleagues have launched the NeuroSport program, designed to help athletes dealing with these types of neurological conditions and others.

When it comes to major sleep disorders, a doctor can offer some very helpful treatment options.  If you’re just having trouble sleeping when headache or migraine strikes, check out the advice of our visitors on the topic – Getting to sleep with migraine (and be sure to leave your advice on a new topic).  In the blogosphere, Wind Lost writes about recent struggles with caffeine, sleep and chronic headache.