After a concussion, adolescents with the highest level of mental activities — such as reading, doing homework and playing video games — take the longest to recover, a new study suggests.
Adolescents engaged in the highest level of mental activities take about 100 days on average to recover from symptoms of concussion, compared to about 20 to 50 days for those with lower mental activities, according to researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston.
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A concussion is an injury to the brain resulting from a blow to the head.
Classic symptoms of concussion are confusion and amnesia. Others include headache, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, and fatigue.
The study was published on Monday in Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
One of the authors is a co-developer of the post-concussion assessment software used in the study and is a co-owner of the company that distributes the software.