Yes I am very paranoid about CTE. For years I've dialled down the sparring intensity and mostly train technically, working on timing.

I appreciate that studies show that the brain basically never heals but sometimes you've got to live the way you want to live...

While the findings around CTE are pretty damning I would also point out that at this stage it is hard to ascertain what degree of sparring/fighting leads to problematic CTE down the line because frequency and intensity are so hard to control for from a scientific perspective. The brain is fragile but humans wouldn't have survived if we couldn't tolerate some degree of accumulated rough and tumble over our lifetimes.

Judo isn't that healthy either. Many Judo-ka have hurt their backs from the damage accumulated from falls and there are other ways to injure yourself in Judo. If you're looking for those sorts of high stress combat situations you can get that with Karate styles that practice a lot less contact. There's still high pressure but a lot less than full contact fighting where you're just hitting and getting hit all the time. Some chance of injury but it's a lot rarer.

I do agree that getting constantly hit in the head is probably not a good idea (e.g. boxing). If you want the stress of public speaking join Toastmasters or something ;)

Might VR boxing be a possible alternative to actually being hit? I don't think our brains distinguish well between actually being hurt and feeling the stress of the game. For instance I used to study for tests while my husband played violent video games with loud sounds because all the screaming was stressful for me and so was actually taking the test. So the combination of studying under stress and taking the test under stress helped me retain the knowledge better.

I have no experience with VR boxing but I can tell you there's no comparison between e.g. a tournament Karate match and first person shooters. I never heard about this idea that studying under stress can help you perform in a test...

As an avid gamer, I'd argue the actual physical threat of being hit is hardwired into us because it is tied to our survival instinct on a primal level.

I like to do all kinds of silly stressful challenge runs in games or sweaty PvP and to your point I've actually noticed that I actually perform better in games like Elden Ring with the music off because the music is designed to heighten your stress.

That all said, I can assure you that none of that comes remotely close to the visceral fear you experience when someone bigger, stronger, faster and better is walking you down in the ring. But overcoming that internal struggle - that is where the true growth lies.

That all said I actually train in a gym that is highly respectful, we train technically and we don't spar to hurt. The desired intensity is mutually communicated and the coaches are at hand to keep us in check. A "fun" way to dial up the intensity is to do heavy body sparring because it's generally pretty harmless but gives you a taste of throwing and receiving power shots (it is exhausting).

A gym with this culture is a fantastic environment for people to develop and I would encourage people to give it a try, no amount of audio-visual simulation will be a replacement for the tactile sensation of being hit and the associated anticipation that accompanies the experience. Our machinery is still animal and we originate from the physical world after all...