The Unexpected Benefits of Watching Sports Football Dont Believe Us Just Wait and See

Hallmark Watch Guide: Holiday Entertainment, Trending Shows, and Classic TV   Behind the Scenes: 'Monarch’ Film Locations Yellowstone Season 5 Review Soccer vs Football Entertainment on a Shoestring Budget

Everybody can agree that watching sports is fun, whether it involves shouting at the TV, cursing the bad calls, or cheering on your favorite team with your nearest and dearest. But beyond the overall excitement and good times that come from traditions like tailgating and going to a stadium or ballpark, watching sports is good for you and there are numerous studies to prove it.

When it comes to sports fanatics, self-esteem scores big points after a team victory. A study from Ohio State University found that sports fans enjoyed at least two full days of improved self-esteem after their team clinched a win.

Should You Watch The 2022 Fifa World Cup Despite Host Qatar's “serious Human Rights Problems”?

The study also found that fans on the losing side still had a boost in happiness and self-esteem when surrounded by friends in a group setting. As co-author and professor of communication at OSU Sylvia Knobloch-Westerwick explains, “Just feeling connected to others while watching the game helped sustain self-esteem.” She also points out how sharing the pain of defeat may have protected fans from taking a hit in self-esteem.

Another notable finding of the study is the way a game was watched. The participants that watched the game by themselves ranked significantly lower in self-esteem levels. And for those who didn’t watch the game at all, their self-esteem levels dropped. “People who didn’t watch couldn’t participate in the conversations, which probably led to a loss of self-esteem, ” Knobloch-Westerwick theorizes.

. When sports fans attend a live game, they are both physically and mentally escaping the stress of their everyday lives. As psychologist Dr. Michael Brein from WebMD explains, “Travel escapism that invites you to increase your feelings of self-esteem and self-confidence…tends to ground you in the present and requires you to deal with virtually everything that is normally mindless back home.”

The Benefits Of Playing Soccer

Sports fans can take a break from stress just by watching sports on TV, but experts say the further they travel to see a live game, the more benefits of escapism, such as living in the moment and getting lost in the excitement.

It may seem overkill to outsiders when diehard fans yellat the TV or complain about bad calls. But research has found that this expression of frustration can help individuals resolve negative feelings when a team plays badly. Referred to as imagined interactions by experts, the act of venting these frustrations has a lengthy list of benefits. Experts say that diehard sports fans are better at conflict resolution, maintaining relationships, letting go of stress, and being mentally prepared for life’s curveballs.

Research has also found that this type of expression helps people practice high-level communication, which in turn, helps promote a better sense of self-understanding. In other words, diehard fans might feel disappointed when their team loses, but the benefits of watching sports and getting excited go beyond winning or losing a game.

As Indian Football Sleeps, Its Young Hopefuls Dream Of Playing Abroad

In the field of sports fan science, researchers have also found that watching sports hits it out of the park for boosting cognitive health. When the spectating brain steps up to the plate and watches the game, it becomes a playing brain.

As Luzette Borelli from Medical Daily explains, “When we’re watching sports…we begin to place ourselves in the ‘athlete’s shoes’ thanks to mirror neurons primarily found in the right side of the brain.” The activation of these neurotransmitters allows spectators to generate similar hormone production such as feel-good dopamine, which helps with mood regulation. This brain stimulation explains why sports fans get hooked and keep coming back for more excitement.

Along with activating mirror neurons, the benefits of watching sports also include the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. In a study published in the journal

Kids Are Losing Interest In Organized Sports. Why That Matters

While watching sports all day isn’t a substitute for an actual workout, tuning into a game instead of binging the latest series or movie has more physical benefits. As Nikki Donnelly from Men‘s Journal puts it, “If you can’t do it, watch it.”

There is a reason coaches include watching sports as part of every player’s off-the-field training. According to sports psychologist and author of

JoAnn Dahlkoetter, Ph.D., athletes that actively watch sports on TV have a better chance ofimproving their performance. “You’re watching a model of correct performance and your brain is taking that in, ” she says.

The Benefits Of Physical Activity Outweigh The Risks For People With Long Term Health Conditions

If you’re wondering how to improve athletic ability by watching sports, Dahlkoetter recommends viewing a 5 to 10-minute segment before bed so you’re more likely to dream about it and make those neurological connections.  

Referred to as mental rehearsal, fantasizing about playing sports engages your prefrontal cortex, which not only activates your adrenaline and raises your heart rate, but also prepares the brain for future athletic performance. Actual practice makes perfect, but watching sports also contributes to an athlete’s training.  

An escape from stress, a self-esteem booster, along with improved cognitive function and better athletic performance – sports fans can feel good about meeting all their game-watching goals. Ready, set, grab the remote!  Football is unquestionably a massive part of people’s lives. Even if you don’t watch all year long, there’s a draw to watch big matches with a lot at stake. Watching these huge games is something that brings people and their communities together. Everyone has their own reasons for cheering for a specific team – they may follow the team their family has supported for years or switch allegiances when a star player trades in for a new uniform. Other folks played football growing up or continue to do so and can see a little bit of themselves in the players they idolize. There are so many reasons we tune in for a good football match! But the question remains, is watching football good or bad for your memory?

A Small Town Gave Up Tackle Football. It Came Storming Back.

Did you know just watching a sport can improve your mental capacity? And that people who discuss games show improved neural connections related to linguistic ability and comprehension? It’s true! Even as a mere spectator you enjoy the benefits of muscle nerve activity, increased memory because of social bonding, and mood improvement – all of which can help boost your memory powers.

In fact, watching a match alongside a television announcer’s play-by-play allows your brain to practice making connections between language and cognition – a key to great recall. Think about it. An announcer describes a certain play, and you see it enacted on the screen. Later, when discussing the play with friends or reading about it in the newspaper, your “mind’s eye” can paint the picture of the action just from the words.

Truly memorable games, especially those of big tournaments, help guide our sense of time and contextualize our memories. We have an easier time remembering where we were and what we were doing when combined with these emotional “anchoring” events. According to Professor Alistair Burns, NHS’ clinical director for dementia, patients who re-watch classic games experience memory stimulation and overall brain activity boosts. Remembering the setting of how, when, and where you watched a game helps trigger surrounding memories, even those completely unrelated to football.

Covid 19 And Its Impact On Football

Just as a boat anchor stops a boat from floating away, a memory anchor stops a memory from floating away. Our memories don’t exist in a vacuum. Whenever we acquire new bits of information, they need to be connected to something else we already know. If you know the year your favorite football team won the semifinals in double over time was the same year your niece was born, and you know they won that historic game in 1996, then you remember what age your niece is turning this year.

A team of Princeton scientists found that dramatic games tap into a process in the brain that allows us to forge powerful memories. When a play surprises us, it interrupts the narrative flow of the game, and these memories tend to last longer than “expected” wins. So, the many surprises in football help us practice our brain’s ability to form memories.

A Johns Hopkins University study explored this phenomenon in babies, noting how they use unexpectedness to help guide their awareness – specifically focusing on things which went against their expectations and caused surprise. The element of surprise is what made them learn the information better and caused a more thorough exploration of their environment. How closely do you pay attention to a game when the undefeated team wins just as everybody expected? Could you recall any details days later? What about when the underdog pulls off that surprise upset? Our brain favors novelty.

Reasons Watching Football Is Good For You

Oftentimes when it feels like we are “vegging out” our brains are processing other memories in the background. So even slow games can be good for your memory!

If these slower games help you to catch a bit of downtime and zone out, it doesn’t mean your brain has totally checked out. Some regions of our brain get more active when we aren’t handling a whole bunch of new information. One of these areas of the brain is called the Default Mode Network and it plays an important role

Share :