Can Watching The Super Bowl Kill You?

Here in Western Pennsylvania we all want our Steelers to win this Sunday, but I didn’t know that our lives may depend on it! It turns out that we may be 15% (men) to 27% (women) more likely to have a heart attack if our team looses.

I have lived all over the United States.In 1997 and 1998, I working in Wisconsin when the Packers went to the Superbowl. In 2009 I was working in Pittsburgh, and I still live less than an hour from the city. I have to say, Pittsburgh and Green Bay fans are the most passionate I have ever seen, and if there is a risk of increase heart attack rates, this is the year.

The study below from USC warns to watch our stress during the game. It may be too late for us to help on Sunday, but if you have trouble managing your stress during events like the Super Bowl, make sure you check out our emwave.

Amplify’d from weblogs.baltimoresun.com

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.”

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