BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The FIFA World Cup attracted worldwide attentions, including crazy football fans and those who just watch it for fun. But have you ever considered how watching the World Cup might affect your health?
Watching sports might have some positive consequences on spectators. Supporting a team can give people a sense of community, a reason to socialize with other people, and boost fans' self-esteem when their team wins.
"You feel like you fit in, like you belong. We know that there are good psychological and also health benefits simply from being a part of a group," said Jason Lanter, a psychology professor at Kutztown University who studies behavior of sport fans.
On the other hand, however, when watching an intense match like the World Cup, people are easy to make pulses spike which could be triggers for heart attacks, especially when their team lost.
On the day in 1998 when Argentina eliminated England in the World Cup, 55 more people were admitted to hospitals due to heart attacks comparing to an average day in England.
"Perhaps the emotions of these intense games were triggering cardiovascular events," said Robert Kloner, director of cardiovascular research at Huntington Medical Research Institutes.
Apart from heart attacks, the excitement, disappointment and flow of adrenalin from watching a national team play might also cause more domestic violence, a Britain research revealed.
John Ryan, a cardiologist at University of Utah Health Care, had some tips for people to watch intense games: stay hydrated, stay cool, don't smoke, and eat and drink alcohol in moderation. "Those same pieces of advice that we hold true for life in general also hold true while we're watching sport games," he said.
