In a recent article, Harvard Health Faculty Editor Dr. Robert H. Shmerling is quick to admit the many benefits of watching sports. “The excitement of competition, the bonding and camaraderie with friends, family and other like-minded fans,” he wrote. “Watching sports could improve your health if spectatorship encourages sports participation,” he adds.
He believes we also need to start recognizing that “watching sports – not just playing sports – can be dangerous to your health.” He saw real-life examples while volunteering at a walk-in clinic near Boston’s Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Although most of these injuries were not life-threatening, he believes they are further evidence that “the health impact of entertainment can be much more serious for some of us” and that risks are underestimated.
Shmerling points out that “most people who watch sports enjoy it and don’t experience any sports-related health problems.” While he doesn’t want to rain on the Super Bowl parade, he should also add that for some time now, “studies have linked hospital admissions for heart failure and cardiac arrest to watch sporting events.
“Doctors and nurses often describe how quiet the ER is during a World Series or Super Bowl game. But after the game is over, it tends to get much busier,” he notes . “One theory is that people with chest pain, difficulty breathing or other symptoms of a potentially serious problem who normally would have presented immediately to the emergency room might delay seeking care until after the game.” But there is also another possibility to consider: the game itself, “especially if the game is close and particularly exciting.” This “could cause enough stress on the body to cause the development of heart attacks, strokes, or other dangerous conditions,” says Shmerling.
Dr. Miguel Maturana is a Memphis, TN-based physician and chief cardiology researcher at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine. He has spent much of his professional life exploring the links between “sport, emotions and cardiovascular outcomes”.
As USA Today’s John Klyce recently reported, working with a team of researchers from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Christian Brothers High School, Maturana searched PubMed, the literature database biomedical managed by the National Library of Medicine, and analyzed studies from the last 50 years which “showed links between sport, emotions and cardiovascular outcomes”.
According to Maturana’s analysis, the four sports most linked to cardiovascular events were “football, hockey, rugby and cricket.” The most common health problems were “transient increases in blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death.”
According to the USA Today report, “these incidents also tended to occur at particular times. Typically, they performed near or at the end of matches, and often, they performed during semifinals or championship matches, when the stakes were highest. …In times like these, passionate fans can become overwhelmed with emotion, which can contribute to cardiovascular events. »
“Of course, emotions can also cause good things,” concedes Maturana, “but that’s not always the case in sport.” The report goes on to say that one thing everyone shares is that they have a sympathetic nervous system and a parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is defined by the “fight or flight” system, best known for its role in responding to dangerous or stressful situations. The parasympathetic nervous system tends to be activated during rest or sleep. “Think of it as a ‘rest and digest system,’” says Maturana. “These two systems are supposed to work together to maintain balance in the body. But during an intense sporting match, the sympathetic nervous system can completely take over, causing a dramatic imbalance. This can cause problems… This imbalance is not limited to This could also come if a fan’s team loses. It could also come from the excitement of a major victory.
According to Shmerling, a 2017 study found that spectators at Montreal Canadiens hockey games “saw their heart rates double during games. The effect was more pronounced for live matches than for televised matches, but even the latter experience resulted in a faster heart rate.” It was also noted in the Harvard Health report that a 2022 study found that “hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems jumped 15% during and immediately after World Cup soccer matches.”
It’s not as if these warnings about health risks are new. As Time magazine reported in 2017, a study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology suggested that “watching a sports game can stress your heart just as much as playing the game itself.” The study’s researchers found that “people’s pulse rates increased by 75% when they watched a hockey game on television and by 110% when they watched one in person – equivalent to the cardiac stress of vigorous exercise.
It’s also not as if we are powerless to do things to prevent these health risks, like exercising regularly. Staying physically active is known to strengthen the heart and lower blood pressure. Also, things like staying hydrated and watching your alcohol intake, especially if you’re out for hours in the heat. Avoid overeating, especially salty junk foods. If you have pre-existing health conditions, you should be especially careful.
As for the chances of having some sort of heart problem during a game? “I think it’s unlikely,” says Maturana. “People should always enjoy their sport. … When they attend the event itself, it’s important that they know these things that we’re discussing.”
It is also important to pay special attention to a recent article from the American Heart Association editorial staff. According to the report, respondents to a November 2023 Harris Poll survey revealed a disturbing fact. More than half (51%) of respondents did not identify heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. According to current heart disease and stroke statistics, heart disease remains and has been the leading cause of death in the United States for 100 years. years.
Heart disease and stroke (the fifth leading cause of death) killed more people in the United States in 2021 than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined.
As Dr. Joseph C. Wu, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, reminds us: “The first step toward reducing any risk factor for cardiovascular disease is awareness. »
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