Expert says watching the World Cup is good for our health

A study of 2,000 sports fans from charitable social enterprise Better has investigated the mental health benefits of being part of a community and watching sports such as the upcoming football World Cup, with 1 in 2 saying watching sport is good for their mental health (51% of men and 46% of women).

As ‘Mental health’ benches have been placed around the venues at the upcoming World Cup to encourage fans to sit down and talk, in order to help their wellbeing, the results of the survey imply this should be a great success. For those watching back home, they can reap the benefits of watching the games to help ease symptoms of Seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

For sports fans across the UK who will be watching this winter, 1 in 2 of all sports fans said it helps them socialise more with friends and family, over a third (35%) said it makes them feel part of a community and 33% said it inspires them to be more active.

But where will people watch the World Cup? 72% of UK sports fans said they generally watch from the comfort of their sofa, but they also said several other interesting places:

25% said they’ve watched from bed
7% have watched on their commute
19% watched while exercising in the gym
17% said they have watched in the office
38% said they enjoy watching it in the pub
Dr. Josephine Perry, sports psychologist at Performance in Mind https://performanceinmind.co.uk, spoke to Better about the results.

“Sport and exercise is brilliant for physical, mental and cognitive health. If it was a pill it would make billions! As well as the physical benefits the exercise we get through sport gives us structure, purpose, energy and motivation. It is also effective at altering the way we process and respond to our emotions, reduces how much we overthink and builds up an emotional resilience to stress. These help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, make us behave differently, boosts our self-esteem and means we reduce any feelings of loneliness by becoming more social.

“Results from sporting professionals impact their mood and this can transfer onto the fans. It is hard to predict an athlete’s response to a result: sometimes they can lose but be proud of the effort or skills they utilised. Other times they may do well but realise that was due to others’ mess ups rather than their own excellence. Fans however are more likely to have the obvious response to a win or a loss as they don’t have the wider insight or perspective. This transfers among fans quickly as when we are surrounded by others we can experience ’emotional contagion’ which is where the feelings of one person transfer over to another person. It begins as an unconscious mimicry (where we automatically copy another’s physical cues) and this then feeds back into our emotions. We share these emotions and fall into sync with others around us. When you are surrounded by people this can spread very quickly – so if you are watching sport live or in a pub the good results will feel extra positive, and the bad ones awful.

“Sport and exercise is brilliant for physical, mental and cognitive health. If it was a pill it would make billions! As well as the physical benefits the exercise we get through sport gives us structure, purpose, energy and motivation. It is also effective at altering the way we process and respond to our emotions, reduces how much we overthink and builds up an emotional resilience to stress. These help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, make us behave differently, boosts our self-esteem and means we reduce any feelings of loneliness by becoming more social.

“When we get really involved in sport; competing ourselves, coaching, taking children along to competitions or joining supporters groups our identity starts to shape itself around that sport. This means we tend to think with this sporting identity and it can infiltrate into the way we make decisions and live our lives. If we only watch sport as a fan it is unlikely to be enough to influence our health and wellbeing – but really getting involved can give us the motivation we need to stay fit and healthy so we can do well in it and feel that amazing sense of progression.”

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

According to the NHS, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern. SAD is sometimes known as “winter depression” because the symptoms are usually more apparent and more severe during the winter.

Some people with SAD may have symptoms during the summer and feel better during the winter. Symptoms of SAD can include:

a persistent low mood
a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities
irritability
feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness
feeling lethargic (lacking in energy) and sleepy during the day
sleeping for longer than normal and finding it hard to get up in the morning
craving carbohydrates and gaining weight
difficulty concentrating
decreased sex drive
For some people, these symptoms can be severe and have a significant impact on their day-to-day activities. You should consider seeing the GP if you think you might have SAD and you’re struggling to cope.