Why do people feel happy when watching matches? | Lifestyle

Why do people watch sports matches with passion and interest? Is it because of the sport they watch itself? Or is it being with others and feeling one with the group?

According to an article on the “Time” website, a group of psychology experts see the World Cup as an opportunity to answer such questions and questions about the benefit that people gain from watching sports competitions, and does this viewing have health benefits?

Helen Kerr, a cognitive psychologist at Anglia Ruskin University in England, is one such scientist who has taken an interest. A study she conducted with others concluded that watching sports competitions of all kinds, whether on the field or on the screen, can have a positive effect on a person. Even if your team loses, fans benefit from the social act of cheering and supporting a team.

Is watching a sports competition beneficial?

Through data collected from a questionnaire that included more than 7,000 people, in 2023, the research team monitored whether attending a sporting event in the past year changed people’s experiences of feeling anxious, lonely, and feeling that life itself is worth living. In addition, the team examined the relationship between these factors and demographic data such as whether a person works, their health status, and gender. The value of tickets for sports competitions was not required to be expensive or to include the participation of professional players, as local competitions that included the participation of amateurs were counted.

The researchers found that attending a live match significantly enhanced some measures of quality of life, and Helen explains that the study revealed that attending a live sporting event was associated with a greater feeling that “your life is valuable.” They also found that attending a live sporting event had a greater impact on people’s feeling that life was worth living compared to whether they were working or not.

A study conducted in 2020 by another group of researchers showed that watching sports competitions on the screen also positively affected feelings of satisfaction with life and its quality, but it did not reduce feelings of loneliness like attending an event in person does.

This suggests that getting people to attend sporting events may be a good way for governments to improve mental health. Among other methods that Helen and her team investigated was encouraging people to practice handicrafts and volunteering, explaining that the team was trying to come up with a fun way through which people’s general and mental health could be improved.

Encouragement and improvement in general condition

Daniel Wan, a social psychologist at Murray State University in Kentucky, says that anyone who has experienced the big swings while watching a sports match might wonder what the point is, especially since they know that the chances of winning and losing are equal.

Wan, who has been conducting studies on sports cheerleading for decades, explains that this question has been the reason for much of the psychology research that has discussed phenomena such as turning away from a team when they lose and feeling proud when a team wins.

In general, experts believe that sports encouragement is greatly beneficial for mental health, even when losing. Wan says people who support a team have higher self-esteem, lower levels of loneliness and alienation, and a higher sense of social connection. “Encouragement can help individuals meet basic psychological needs, such as the need to belong,” he adds.

At the same time, sports cheerleading allows people to differentiate themselves from the group, giving themselves a unique identity within society. You might be a sports fan who follows both football and archery, for example, or you could be someone who specializes in following a specific group of players. Wan emphasizes that the feeling of individual excellence is also a basic psychological need.

Regular sports leagues also provide a kind of framework for fans’ lives. A person may remember where he was during the last World Cup, or he may plan parties related to a tournament some time before it. Wan says these rituals bring comfort and give people something to look forward to.