The sports 'geeks' have a dream summer ahead of them, one of those of taking control of the TV, barricading themselves on the couch and not moving for almost two months. The Euro Cup in Germany starts on June 14, which will run until July 14. Two weeks later, on July 26, the Paris Olympic Games begin, which will last until August 11. 51 matches will be played in the European football tournament. It is very likely that many of them will see them with friends and order some pizzas, hamburgers or some fries to eat. To drink, beer or soft drinks. This was confirmed by a study by a food delivery company in the previous Euro Cup: almost 60% met at home with the team and 93% ate during the games.
As you can see, nothing particularly healthy or recommended by any nutritionist. However, watching sports can be healthy, since it does 'cardio', releases endorphins – the hormones of happiness -, relieves stress… The latest thing that has been discovered is that it even changes, for the better, the structure of the reward circuit of our brain, the one linked to pleasure and happiness. And the more popular the sport is, the more benefits it will bring.
A goal increases the heart rate by 24%
Let's start with 'cardio'. Watching a soccer game is equivalent, apparently, to 90 minutes of brisk walking as long as you live intensely. This was said in 2019 by research from the University of Leeds after following 25 fans of the team from this English city for three games when promotion to the Premier League – the English First Division, for those who do not follow football – was being played. . They saw their heart rate increase by 17% and shoot up to 24% when their team scored a goal. When the goal was against, the anger shot it a little less, at 22%. Regarding mood, they also revealed something more obvious: if one's team wins, mood improves for at least 24 hours. This, by the way, even helps the economy, since we happily spend more: since 1970, the GDP of the champion country has experienced an average growth of 0.7% the year after the victory – that of the loser declines by 0.3%. %–.
Other beneficial aspects are that endorphins are released, the immune system is strengthened, it allows you to disconnect from daily stress and social ties are reinforced.
Even more surprising is what a study by the Faculty of Sports Sciences at the Japanese University of Waseda published in the magazine 'Sports Management Review' claims. They claim that it changes the brain circuits of pleasure and that it is more beneficial to watch a popular sport than another that is not so popular. “For those looking to improve their overall well-being, watching sports regularly, especially popular ones like baseball and football, can be an effective remedy,” they explain. (You may be surprised by the reference to baseball, but in Japan it arouses passion. In fact, the highest-paid athlete in the world is Shohei Ohtani, who last December guaranteed himself 640 million euros for ten years after signing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.) .
Better to watch football than golf
To reach these conclusions, three investigations were carried out. In the first they analyzed the data of 20,000 Japanese after watching a sporting activity. They saw that, indeed, these viewers experienced high well-being. In the second, they conducted an online survey among 208 participants to check whether this pleasant sensation varied with the sport observed. They showed them several sports videos and saw that the reaction was more positive with very popular sports like baseball than with less followed sports like golf.
The most interesting thing came with the third. In this they used neuroimaging techniques to examine the brain activity of 14 volunteers while they watched sports videos. They found that the brain's reward circuits were activated, “indicating feelings of happiness or pleasure.” And even more striking: they observed that individuals who said they watched sports more frequently had a greater volume of gray matter in regions associated with the aforementioned circuits. In other words, beneficial structural changes would be generated in the brain. “Both subjective and objective measures of well-being were found to be positively influenced by sports viewing. “By inducing structural changes in the brain's reward system over time, it fosters long-term benefits for individuals.”
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