NFL Football is back and it means that fantasy stress, high sodium snacks, and plenty of alcohol are returning with it. Not for every fan. But gameday emergency room visits tell another side of the season’s homecoming story.
For fans that are already dealing with underlying health conditions, the stress of a favorite team can trigger more than just an emotional response. A susceptible male may sit on the couch to watch the game and drink a few beers, eat some chips or processed meats and cheeses while he enjoys his favorite team. He might feel a little pressure in his chest at times, especially with a fumbled ball or a wide right field goal. The pressure gets a little worse, he may start to sweat. Does he head to the Emergency Room?
Not yet. There’s still another fifteen minutes on the play clock.
Why is this about a man? Sure, women get stressed on Sundays too, but for the sake of this rant, women regulate their emotions a little better. Men regulate with Buffalo wings, bourbon, and a heart rate of 145. The women can sit this one out on the sidelines.
A multicenter study was performed specifically surrounding the New England Patriots games and the incidence of emergency department visits during the 2012-2019 NFL seasons. During those years, researchers observed a 2.6% overall decrease (−10.4 patients) in average total daily volume across study sites on Sundays when Patriots games were played compared with Sundays when the Patriots didn’t play.
Does that decrease in game time visits mean that Patriots’ fans were suddenly healthier when their team played?
No. It meant they were stressed and symptomatic, and they waited until the game was over to do anything about it.
Priorities.
Football fans will call a loss heartbreaking. In New England after Super Bowl XLII, researchers found that description may have been disturbingly accurate. When the Patriots’ undefeated season ended with a loss to the New York Giants, the disappointment may have reached far beyond bruised egos and broken television screens.
Researchers studying mortality in Massachusetts found a 20% increase in circulatory cardiac deaths, and a 24% increase in deaths from ischemic heart disease following the Super Bowl loss. It doesn’t mean Eli Manning is responsible for killing Patriots’ fans, but it does mean that more is at play when watching a high-stakes game.
Something meant to be entertaining, now becomes a threat. Your body can take the game seriously, even if you’re not the one on the field.
Have you ever heard of the sympathetic nervous system? You have. This is your body’s fight or flight response. An emotional response to an interception or the joy of a touchdown will each activate it. Your pulse races, adrenaline surges, and blood pressure can rise. For a healthy fan this may result in some sweaty palms and pacing around the living room like you’re Dom Capers on the sideline.
For an NFL fan that already has risk factors such as obesity, heart disease, or high cholesterol, that physiological response may carry a more threatening reaction. Add beer, salty food, several sedentary hours, an overtime game, and a fantasy running back who found a way to earn negative two points, and a typical Sunday showdown turns into sudden death overtime for your heart.
Football fans aren’t known for their calm demeanor. They don’t watch their quarterback throw a third interception, rub their beard and say, “Wow. Interesting decision.” They stand up, they sit still. They pace, they yell so loudly the dog runs to the kennel like she’s the one in trouble. Their heart doesn’t understand the game.
The heart doesn’t understand that they’re yelling because of a stranger in shoulder pads. It thinks there’s an emergency. It doesn’t know the difference between ventricle and Vrabel. The heart can’t handle all that sympathetic stress.
You don’t have to munch strictly on celery while yelling at the O line to get healthier. There’s plenty of easy ways to get your heart back on the starting line. Start with movement. Put a walking pad in front of the TV. It might not look cool in front of the boys, but your goal isn’t fashion, it’s focus.
Even standing up and moving around between drives can break up hours of sitting.
Food matters, too. Instead of making a buffet of fried foods, processed meats, and bean dips, try to chop some vegetables and eat them with a light dip. Pop a bag of popcorn-lightly salted. Drink 20oz of water in between the beers that calm your nerves during 4th and inches. The goal isn’t perfection, and the changes don’t need to be Hail Mary’s. The goal is simply making small changes to help make big improvements; and maybe trying not to eat your entire daily sodium limit in the first half.
Go ahead and watch the game. Enjoy the wings. Eat the cheese curds. But do it in a little more moderation. Start the quarterback you’re convinced is going to save your fantasy week. Also take a walk, drink some water, and occasionally eat something that didn’t come out of a fryer. Week One is barely finished, after all.
If your chest starts hurting, head to the emergency room right away. It’s 2026. They have TVs there. The game will still be on when you get there.
Hopefully you will be, too.
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