I suspect that a lot of the difference is accounted for by injuries, both major and minor. Football players, in particular, take a whole lot of abuse. A regular person exercising carefully at the gym won’t have that problem.
Perhaps, but death from such injuries is extremely rare. I doubt it is any significant contributor to their death rate.
Burning off the calories through exercise is certainly more healthy than getting fat, but from what i’ve seen caloric intake is negatively correlated with lifespan in general.
That’s a good point and could explain why footballers have a lifespan 5 years or so lower than high end athletes and much lower than the general population.
It would be interesting to compare boxers/fighters based on weight class. They take alot of head beating and you can compare for different caloric intakes.
Sumo wrestlers would be another interesting data point—very high caloric intake and no concussions.
I suspect that one would find a significant caloric effect independent of concussions. Most footballers are quite big and have very high caloric intakes.
I’d expect QB’s to live longer than typical linemen.
I suspect that a lot of the difference is accounted for by injuries, both major and minor. Football players, in particular, take a whole lot of abuse. A regular person exercising carefully at the gym won’t have that problem.
Perhaps, but death from such injuries is extremely rare. I doubt it is any significant contributor to their death rate.
Burning off the calories through exercise is certainly more healthy than getting fat, but from what i’ve seen caloric intake is negatively correlated with lifespan in general.
With footballers, there’s reason to think it’s accumulated concussions rather than death from a single injury.
That’s a good point and could explain why footballers have a lifespan 5 years or so lower than high end athletes and much lower than the general population.
It would be interesting to compare boxers/fighters based on weight class. They take alot of head beating and you can compare for different caloric intakes.
Sumo wrestlers would be another interesting data point—very high caloric intake and no concussions.
I suspect that one would find a significant caloric effect independent of concussions. Most footballers are quite big and have very high caloric intakes.
I’d expect QB’s to live longer than typical linemen.