Are you a true football fan? If yes, then you may be three times more likely to have a heart attack than your friends spending their nights watching movies. Scientists reveal that watching the World Cup in Brazil may cause arrhythmia and even heart attack, especially for the hardcore fans with underlying heart conditions.
The action and the drama during a football match usually cause lots of stress. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the fans’ risk of ending up in a hospital was 2.66 times greater when their team played than any other day of the week. German scientists looked at the data concerning cardiovascular events rates during the 2006 World Cup and found that this effect was even bigger in men.
Their risk of having arrhythmia or heart attack reached 3.26, while female fans had only 1.82 greater risk when watching the game. This difference can be attributed to the degree of interest and dedication to sports in men and women. As we know, men are usually crazier when it comes to their favourite sport, in this case – soccer.
For men, watching their team play, especially in a big tournament such as the World Cup, is almost the same as experiencing an earthquake. In 1996, scientists discovered that sudden deaths from cardiac events jumped 5 times when a major earthquake hit Los Angeles. Apparently, stress is the key word here. This week, a new study revealed how exactly stress and chronic disease causes heart attacks and strokes – the increased production of white blood cells, or leucocytes, fights infections, but it also restricts blood flow in the arteries. As a result, blood clots can be formed, which later will either block the circulation or break off and travel to another part of the body to cause myocardial infarction and stroke.
Emotional stress during a soccer match is definitely dangerous for your health, but the consumption of junk food and alcohol, associated with watching sports are not helping either. For most men, the World Cup means lack of sleep, overeating, drinking beer and too much excitement. And if the match is really important, or your team happens to lose, your risk of a heart attack is even greater. So, calm down, cut down on your vices and consult your physician even over the slightest symptom.
