The Football Players Health Study (FPHS) at Harvard University is finding that the long-term health story for former players is more complicated — and, in many ways, more hopeful — than the public conversation around football often suggests.
Football has spent years wrestling with what happens to players after the games end. Much of that conversation has understandably centered on repetitive head injuries, cognitive decline, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Until relatively recently, much of the research on former NFL players involved small groups of very sick players near the end of life or examined players after death.
Researchers with FPHS are looking at a broader picture. Some of the health problems former players experience may be connected to conditions doctors can identify, manage, and, in many cases, treat.
FPHS is the largest study of living former NFL players, with more than 5,000 participants. The participant group is diverse across age, geography, playing era, position, years of play, head-injury history, race, ethnicity, and reported health status. It includes players with no reported health problems, as well as those who report many. Researchers examine multiple areas of long-term health, including cardiovascular health, sleep, pain, cognition, mental health, hormonal health, physical function, and aging.
FPHS describes its approach as “whole player, whole life,” recognizing that player health cannot be reduced to a single condition or injury. The study also asks questions about the family unit, recognizing that an NFL career affects more than just the player.
SportsEpreneur recently spoke with members of the FPHS team about the research, how former players interpret symptoms, and how getting a broader health message in front of players, families, and the football community could help change the narrative.
A broader look at long-term football health
Rachel Grashow, a senior research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of research initiatives with the Football Players Health Study, pointed to two misunderstandings the group wants to address: the belief that cognitive symptoms experienced by former football players must be caused by CTE, and the idea that little can be done when those symptoms appear.
CTE is a real neuropathological condition associated with repeated head trauma, and it currently can only be definitively diagnosed through examination of the brain after death. In a study of nearly 2,000 former NFL players, about one-third reported believing they had CTE. Players with cognitive problems, depression, chronic pain, and other health conditions were more likely to report CTE concerns.
Many of those symptoms can also appear alongside other health problems. Sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, testosterone deficiency, and other conditions can affect memory, concentration, mood, and quality of life. Many can be diagnosed and treated or managed.
Grashow explained the point in an email to SportsEpreneur after our conversation: “The biggest misunderstandings are that a) all cognitive symptoms in players are because of CTE (not true) and b) that we can’t do anything about them,” she wrote. “The heartening news is that we can.”
FPHS recognizes the long-term health risks associated with football. Some health issues showing up later in players’ lives may be tied to head injuries accrued during their playing careers. Those symptoms still deserve evaluation by a licensed medical professional, especially when available treatments may alleviate or prevent problems that are driving concern.
Turning research into something former players can use
FPHS has collaborated with former players and their families to turn research findings into practical resources.
One is Tackling Personal Health, a checklist designed to help former NFL players have more informed conversations with healthcare providers. It covers areas including blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, sleep, chronic pain, testosterone, memory and concentration, mood, and weight.
FPHS also maintains a broader resource library for former players and a collection of research results written by and for players and their families.
A player concerned about fatigue, concentration, or memory problems may also have untreated sleep apnea. Someone dealing with mood changes may have several overlapping physical or mental-health factors. Chronic pain can affect sleep and emotional health. High blood pressure carries cardiovascular risk and can influence long-term brain health. The goal is to encourage a broader evaluation of symptoms and health conditions that may otherwise go untreated.
What the FPHS is finding
Several FPHS findings help explain the broader health picture. Sleep apnea is one of the clearest examples.
In research involving 1,951 former professional football players, more than 31% reported having already been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Another 51% screened at intermediate or high risk without knowing whether they had sleep apnea. Players with diagnosed but untreated sleep apnea reported particularly high levels of depression, anxiety, pain, and cognitive difficulties. The research team notes that screening and treating sleep apnea when it is discovered may reduce worrisome symptoms and improve concentration, memory, thinking, and overall quality of life for former players.
Researchers have also examined cardiovascular health. A study of more than 4,000 former NFL players found that those reporting high numbers of concussion symptoms during their playing careers were almost twice as likely to report high blood pressure after their careers. The association remained after researchers accounted for factors including age, smoking, diabetes, race, and body mass index. The FPHS high blood pressure research focuses on a condition that is measurable and manageable.
The study has also examined hormonal and sexual health, areas that receive far less public attention. In research on testosterone deficiency and sexual health involving approximately 3,400 former players, those who reported more concussion symptoms during their playing years were more likely to report low testosterone and erectile dysfunction. Sleep apnea, hypertension, obesity, and prescription pain-medication use were among the additional risk factors identified.
Symptoms of testosterone deficiency can include weight gain, clouded thinking, depressed mood, and other changes. The research team notes that testosterone replacement therapy and other interventions can help address these issues. The findings illustrate how long-term player health can involve multiple interconnected systems.
When one story dominates the conversation
CTE has become one of the most recognizable health issues associated with football. FPHS researchers continue to examine repetitive head injury, cognition, neurodegenerative disease, and CTE-related concerns. Cognitive, emotional, or behavioral symptoms can also be interpreted primarily through a CTE lens.
Among former players who believed they had CTE, FPHS researchers also found higher rates of pain, low testosterone, depression, behavioral instability, and cognitive symptoms. Those health issues warrant evaluation regardless of what ultimately caused them.
Grashow told SportsEpreneur that fear can discourage players from seeking care. If someone experiencing memory problems, depression, or changes in concentration concludes that the cause must be an irreversible disease, he may be less likely to pursue care for other health conditions contributing to those symptoms. Conditions such as hypertension, sleep apnea, depression, and hormonal deficiencies can create their own long-term health consequences when they remain untreated.
The study’s work supports a broader view of life after football, one that acknowledges the risks of the sport while continuing to investigate health problems where treatment or management may be possible.
Getting the research findings to those who need to hear them
The Football Players Health Study has spent more than a decade producing research on the health and well-being of former professional football players. FPHS has worked closely with former NFL players and their families to turn those findings into player-facing research summaries, health resources, and tools such as the Tackling Personal Health checklist. Those same goals are behind the conversations between SportsEpreneur and the Football Players Health Study.
Research can travel through articles, podcasts, video, social content, outside media appearances, and conversations with former players, trainers, families, and researchers. SportsEpreneur can serve as one place where those ideas are developed and shared while other platforms and people carry them further.
Grashow also sees potential relevance beyond former NFL players. FPHS findings come from research involving professional football players, so they should not be assumed to apply identically to other populations. She said there is reason, however, for collegiate football players and athletes in other contact sports involving repetitive head injury risk to pay attention to what researchers are learning from former NFL players.
The risks of football remain part of the story, alongside health problems that can be identified, treated, or managed after a playing career ends. The study’s “whole player, whole life” approach brings the brain, heart, joints, sleep, hormones, mental health, and other parts of a player’s life into the same health conversation. For former players concerned about their health, those connections broaden the questions they can bring to their healthcare providers.
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A resource for former players and their healthcare providers
The Football Players Health Study created Tackling Personal Health, a practical checklist designed to help former NFL players talk with their healthcare providers about their health history, symptoms, screenings, and areas that may deserve further attention.
View the FPHS Tackling Personal Health checklist
Additional research findings and health resources for former players and their families are available through FPHS.
Eric Kasimov is the founder of SportsEpreneur, part of the KazSource media network. Since launching the platform in 2015, he has hosted over 500 podcast episodes, written and published more than 1,500 articles, and advised business leaders, founders, and creators on building authority through media strategy.
Through his brands — KazSource, KazCM, SportsEpreneur, and QuietLoud Studios — Eric leads teams that produce podcasts, develop brand platforms, and help companies grow through modern content ecosystems. He also scaled KazSource Insurance into a seven-figure boutique agency, providing the foundation for the broader media network he operates today.
His work has been featured in Forbes, Axios, and Front Office Sports, and his podcasts have included conversations with top founders, investors, and athletes turned entrepreneurs.