Watching sports proves to be a healthy choice

A aspect of sports I had never thought about being beneficial is that of spectator.

I’ve read plenty about how playing sports as a youth is off the charts good, especially for girls when it comes to self-esteem and body image.

Even following losing teams are said to be good for one’s health. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Continuing to participate as an adult certainly has an abundance of health benefits—physical, mental and emotional. It’s also about making friendships—whether it’s an individual or team sport.

What I didn’t know until reading a recent Time magazine article is that I’m doing myself good by watching sports. It doesn’t have to be in person either. However, studies show there are more benefits being at the event because that eliminates a sense of loneliness that can be triggered watching by yourself.

Even if you go to a sporting event alone, it would be hard to feel alone in the sea of people who are either elated right along with you or in despair with how one’s team or person is playing.

What you are watching also doesn’t have to involve professional athletes competing. So, that levels the economic playing field, so to speak. It could be a youth sporting event, a rec league or people you don’t even know.

“Individuals that are really involved in a sports team, they have higher self-esteem, they have lower levels of loneliness and alienation, and they have a higher sense of social connectivity,” Daniel Wann, a social psychologist at Murray State University in Kentucky who has studied sports fandom for decades, told Time. “Fandom has the capability to help individuals meet basic psychological needs, like the need to belong.”

This knowledge might make this Giants season more tolerable. Though, honestly, they are still hard to watch this year. Sometimes it seems like it would be healthier to find a new team or sport to care about.