Roar together, be happy together: why watching sport is good for you
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Roar together, be happy together: why watching sport is good for you

Anna Sandner
17.6.2024
Translation: machine translated

Sport makes you happy and you don't even have to get up from the sofa to do it. Because watching is enough. Watching football with friends or alone in front of the TV activates the reward centres in the brain.

It's that time of year again: the European Football Championship is electrifying the masses. Whether in the stadium, at public viewings or in front of the television - millions of fans are cheering on their team and even doing something good for their health in the process. Because a scientific study has found that watching sport has a lasting effect on well-being.

Watching sport activates the reward centres in the brain

The researchers from Waseda University in Tokorozawa, Japan, combined data analyses, self-reports and brain scans to investigate the connection between sports consumption and happiness. And indeed: people who regularly watch sport report a greater sense of well-being. At the top of the list: popular sports such as football or baseball - they activate the reward centres in the brain more strongly than less popular disciplines such as golf.

Those who watch a lot of sport even showed structural changes in the very regions of the brain that are responsible for pleasure. The more often you consume sport, the more your brain apparently changes in a direction that is conducive to happiness. So it's no wonder that the European Championship matches are causing so much euphoria right now.

What makes watching football so special?

It's the communal experience that sets it apart from other leisure activities. Whether in the stadium or on the fan mile - celebrating and cheering together creates a feeling of togetherness. This is exactly what activates the reward centres in the brain.
So pick up the remote control and let yourself be carried away by the football euphoria. Your well-being will thank you for it.

Header image: Sergei Bachlakov/Shutterstock

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Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.


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