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  • How can you avoid becoming homeless?

  • Easy!

  • Just don't do anything, ever.

  • Wait, that can't be right...

  • Hey, guys Tara here for DNews, and if you've ever visited any major city in America, then you'd know that homelessness is a growing problem here.

  • The city of San Francisco spends $200 million every single year trying to get homeless people off the streets.

  • And while many attribute their lifestyle to laziness, or drug addiction, or a dwindling economy, a new study says that traumatic brain injuries could be an underlying cause.

  • A team of researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto looked at data from 111 homeless men ages 27-81,

  • and found that almost half of them had experienced a traumatic brain injury at some point during their lives.

  • And 87% of them occurred before the men lost their homes.

  • Some had sustained multiple brain injuries with assault being, overwhelmingly, the most common cause.

  • Sports-related injuries and motor vehicle collisions were also huge contributors.

  • But for men under age 40, the number one most common cause of brain injury was a fall resulting from drug or alcohol-related blackouts.

  • Now this brings up an interesting dilemma.

  • Because it's already been shown that traumatic brain injury leads to aggressive behavior, violence, and impulsivity.

  • But, by the same token, aggression and impulse control disorders increase the likelihood of traumatic brain injury.

  • So it's kind of a chicken-and-egg situation, where both problems exist and they just potentiate one another.

  • Of course there's no arguing that these kinds of injuries worsen pre-existing conditions.

  • A 2008 study from a different group, showed that traumatic brain injuries increase the likelihood of seizures, mental health problems, drug problems, and overall poorer physical health.

  • This challenges the notion that being homeless is a conscious decision, but it should also serve as a warning sign to parents whose children have sustained traumatic head injuries.

  • Just because someone looks ok on the outside, doesn't mean they are on the inside, and that's good advice for all of us.

  • As always, if you have questions or comments about this episode, feel free to leave them down below, and for more episodes of DNews - subscribe here.

How can you avoid becoming homeless?

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