It's happening more often. You walk into your kitchen and rifle through the utensil drawer. Frustrated, you stare at the spatula in your hand. What is this thing? You just used it yesterday, and now you can't remember the name. 

Later that afternoon, your friends call and invite you to play golf. Hitting the links used to be your favorite retirement activity, but now it holds little interest. Why bother going? You'll probably have a terrible game and friends don't want you there anyway. Better to stay home and sit on the couch. 

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Our retired athletes are struggling. They left everything on the field, and now they're paying the price. Far too many suffer from depression, memory loss, and apathy. Here's the grim data.

Former pro football players 

The results are in. Retired pro football players, particularly those with repeated head trauma, battle depression and cognitive impairment later in life. One study found that retired pro football payers aged 30-49 experienced memory problems 19-times more often than age-matched controls. Memory loss in retired players can range from embarrassing forgetfulness to major career and life impairments. It can be challenging to find a new job, maintain a family, or care for yourself if you forget names, plans, or where you left the car keys. 

Brain scans reveal that former professional football players often endure a loss of brain matter and decreased brain blood flow. These changes make it harder for former athletes to find words and recall names. Their brains appear aged. 

Beyond football

It's not just football. Retired athletes throughout the sports world should worry about their long-term brain health. Ice hockey, soccer, and rugby players are subjected to repeated head trauma. Many go on to develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). 

These injured former athletes have to deal with sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, and distress. Things get worse with each concussion. Symptoms of CTE were 50% more common in athletes with more than three concussions. 

Regardless of the sport, head injuries take a toll. After the final whistle is blown, athletes of all stripes often spend their retirement dealing with chronic pain and musculoskeletal problems. The combination of repeated head trauma with physical injuries increases the risk that a former player will suffer from depression and psychological distress. Combined with the lingering impact of CTE, these former players face many challenges. 

Depression

Beyond brain fog and memory loss, many former football players battle depression. Injured retired players struggle with pessimism, guilt, loss of pleasure, indecisiveness, decreased energy, lower sex drive, and difficulty concentrating. These injured athletes are eight times more likely to feel sad and are twice as likely to have a sleep disturbance than the general population.

The risk of depression appears to be related to how often former players experienced a concussion. Those with no concussions had a 3% risk of depression, while more than one in four players with 10+ concussions were depressed. Another study found that those with three or more concussions had triple the risk of depression compared with controls. 

Depression is a devastating and misunderstood illness. Since there is no blood test or x-ray for depression, it is often misdiagnosed. Well-meaning friends and relatives don't understand how it feels to have depression. They can't relate to the sufferer's constant feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and guilt. That's why people with depression often struggle alone. 

All former college athletes are at risk

The problems aren't limited to professional sports. Concussions harm our college athletes. We know that college athletes who sustained concussions are more likely to struggle with depression, impulsiveness, and aggression. As a result, they'll have a harder time forming meaningful relationships, holding down jobs, and securing their financial future. 

Concussions aren't the only problems for our former college athletes. Injury, declining athletic performance, and involuntary termination from the sport put our college athletes at the greatest risk for long-term problems with mental health. 

As supporters of retired athletes, we must do better. We need to be vigilant for signs of depression, including sadness, guilt, hopelessness, and loss of interest in formerly enjoyable activities. If you spot signs of possible depression, brain fog, or forgetfulness, encourage the former athlete to visit their doctor or mental health professional. 

The good news is that there is hope. We have a variety of treatments for depression and CTE, and new ones are developed by the day. Together, friends, family, coaches, trainers, and physicians can support and protect our athletes. 

Gregory Charlop, MD is the author of Why Doctors Skip Breakfast: Wellness Tips to Reverse Aging, Treat Depression, and Get a Good Night's Sleep. He runs a telemedicine wellness clinic for athletes and elite performers in Beverly Hills, CA. You can reach him at www.GregoryCharlopMD.com