Being a sports fan, whether you're watching top-flight football, the Olympic Games or your favorite local team, is usually a rollercoaster ride. Incredible highs if you happen to win, depressing lows if you happen to don't, and plenty of stressful feelings in between.
Thankfully, the general effect must be a positive one Research has shown that individuals who watch sports experience greater well-being than those that don't – and that this might be linked to the social features of watching sports.
by the Goodness We mean an individual's psychological state – how well someone feels. There are individuals with high fitness. Better physical health And Live long in comparison with less healthy people.
research Carried out by our group at Anglia Ruskin University – led by Helen – used data from 7,209 adults aged 16-85 living in England who took part within the Taking Part survey commissioned by the UK government. I participated.
We found that individuals within the UK who had attended a live sporting event within the previous yr were more satisfied with their lives, felt their lives were more worthwhile, and were less lonely than those that had not. There are those that didn't. Chime in with these results Other studieswhich found that individuals who watch sports in person no less than annually have fewer depressive symptoms than those that don't.
Can't make it to live events? Watching sports on TV and online will also be good to your health. research It found that individuals who watched sports on TV or the Internet were also less depressed than those that didn't, and depressive symptoms were also lower in those that watched sports with increased frequency. are
People who watch sports are more likely. Report high feelings more fulfilling lives than those that don't, no matter whether or not they watch the sport in person, on TV or online.
All of those outcomes are correlated, which implies that we cannot ensure which factor affects the opposite or that each could also be completely influenced by one other factor (akin to wealth, or friends). number). However, social identity theory and brain imaging research suggest that watching sports may promote underlying health slightly than other aspects.
Watching sports is prone to have positive effects. Social identity. We seek connection by forming groups: communities of individuals with whom we now have something in common. These communities are formed. Part of our identityAnd through them we get social and emotional support.
Here is an example of group formation. The community we share. With individuals who support sports teams like ours. research It has been shown that individuals who discover strongly with a sports team feel emotionally supported by fellow fans, which increases life satisfaction.
Through our shared social identity, we also share the social and emotional advantages of achievements amongst our group. Researchers at KU Leuven in Belgium called it “Basking in reflected glory”
However, when our team loses, we usually tend to distance ourselves from our team to guard ourselves from the negative social and psychological consequences: “reflected failure extinction”.
Demonstrating the role of social processes linking sports spectatorship and well-being a Japanese studies through which brain imaging was used. They found that parts of the brain related to psychological rewards (feeling good) were more lively when participants watched a preferred spectator sport like baseball than a less popular spectator sport like golf.
So, the social advantages of watching sports aren't necessarily limited to going to live events with family and friends. We can benefit from the sense of community provided by our favourite athletes whether we watch the sport in person or from the comfort of our own residence, and by extension we will benefit from the psychological advantages as well.
Whether you support your team from home or at the sport, you may benefit from the highs of being a sports fan knowing that it's good for you – so long as you're sharing the experience with others. .