The Mind and Body Connection ft. Lofa Tatupu

It’s not often that you hear a former professional football player say that he is in much better shape NOW than he was in the NFL. That is exactly what Lofa Tatupu, formerly playing for the Seattle Seahawks, IS saying. In six seasons, he had 10 surgeries and over 15 documented concussions. Playing football is a little rough on the body. When his father died, it was discovered later that he had both early-onset Parkinson’s, and CTE - (which is essentially chronic head trauma.) His father had also played for many years in the NFL, and that’s when Lofa started to worry about himself more. And for good reason. Whenever he would come out of a concussion, there was short-term memory loss, attention problems, lack of focus and general cognitive deficits. He also had inflammation, sleep apnea, vision issues and a host of other complaints. And this was all in his late 20’s. When you have a dream and you work for it and live it for years and years and it’s suddenly gone, your heart gets ripped out. It affects everything you are or can be. It causes you to sink into a “funk” or depression. How do you get out of that? Find out in this episode.