Punch Drunk

After a concussion forces him to retire, a former pro-wrestler starts an institute to study the neurological effects of repeated brain injuries.

Written byJef Akst

| 4 min read

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Chris "Harvard" Nowinski (right) wrestling Jeff Hardy in 2002.WWE

In the middle of a July night in 2003, Chris Nowinski woke up on the floor of his hotel room in Terre Haute, Indiana. The lamp on the bedside table was broken, as was the table itself, and he had no idea what had happened. According to his girlfriend, he had stood up on the bed, tried to climb the wall, and then jumped off the bed, taking out the nightstand on the way down. All he could remember was trying to catch something that was falling, but apparently it had all been just a bad dream.

Though he had never sleepwalked before, Nowinski, a professional wrestler, had an idea why the strange episode had occurred. About a month earlier, he had taken a blow ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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