Can Watching The Super Bowl Kill You?

Watching the Super Bowl can stop your heart If you plan to watch the Super Bowl – and you care who wins – you might want to do some yoga first. When your team loses there is an increased risk of death from the stress, according to a new study. Most people probably agree that watching sports can be emotional, but the study published in the journal Clinical Cardiology shows that a Super Bowl loss for a home team can lead to more cardiac death. Researchers looked at mortality rates from cardiac causes for the 1980 Los Angeles Super Bowl loss and for the 1984 Los Angeles Super Bowl win. The loss killed more men, women and seniors and the win resulted in fewer deaths of seniors and women. There was a 15 percent increase in circulatory death for men viewing a game loss and a 27 percent increase for women and a 22 percent increase for older patients. “Physicians and patients should be aware that stressful games might elicit an emotional response that could trigger a cardiac event,” said Dr. Robert A. Kloner, of the Heart Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital and Keck School of Medicine at USC in Los Angeles, in a statement. “Stress reduction programs or certain medications might be appropriate in individual cases.” Read more at weblogs.baltimoresun.com