Watching football can be hazardous to your health

Football is a unifying factor in an ethnically-divided nation like ours. But unknown to many soccer fans, it can trigger or contribute to many problems, including those that affect the heart, reports Sade Oguntola.

This is the season for Africa’s most prestigious soccer tournament and most people will be eager to watch their dream team performing at their best at the ongoing Nations Cup in Ghana. Everywhere will be filled with excitement as many hard hearted fans will be staking their hopes,money and other material things on their favourite team with the expectation of their team carrying the trophy. This expectation of a favourable outcome always leads to anxiety and tension.

Aside this, supporters do face a number of medical risks including tendency to get drunk in order to ease tension which may result to bladder disease. According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested that stress and excitement due to major sporting events as well as lack of sleep, overeating, wolfing down junk food, boozing and smoking can trigger a surge in heart attacks among spectators, especially those with known heart conditions.

German researchers looked at 4,279 cardiac(heart) emergencies and heart attacks cases that occurred during the 2006 World Cup of Soccer, which Germany hosted. They found the rate of such events was more than two and a half times above the norm on days when Germany played. Analysis showed that on the seven days when the German team played, the overall number of cardiac emergencies was more than double the norm.

The researchers found a direct correlation to an increase in emergency room visits during more stressful games, and those, which involved the German team, and no rise in visits when the Germans were not playing or the game was not a stressful one.

They found that men’s risk of having heart problems while watching their team play was over three times higher than normal. Women’s risk of heart troubles was nearly two times higher. Those with a history of heart trouble were even more at risk.

Dr. Ute Wilbert-Lampen, one of the study’s lead authors, said “The more important the game, the greater the risk. There is also a direct correlation between the tension in the game and the amount of stress one feels — and thus the strain on the heart.”

The study also showed that serious fans made things worse on themselves by ignoring serious symptoms during the game. They rather waited till the final whistle before they drive to the hospital and in a way extend injury time indefinitely.

Dr. David Jerrard, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland, said aside those men with heart symptoms that despite the symptoms will put off seeking emergency treatment if they’re watching a game, some may have chest pain or upper abdominal pain. Most of these chest and upper abdominal pain that people might mostly likely related to the food they’re eating, the alcohol they’re ingesting of course, could also be indicative of heart problem.

Only half of the people going to the hospital had a known history of heart disease. That means that the other half had no idea that heart disease was lurking in them. It took the excitement of the game to unmask it.

Excitement of a game unmasking heart disease makes sense. The adrenaline-buzzed excitement that builds during the game is not different that involved in a car accident, a robbery, or other intensely stressful situation. When smoking and drinking, all during a relatively sedentary several hours of a match, compounds this, it becomes a more serious problem.

Similarly, Cathy Ross, a cardiac nurse for the British Heart Foundation, said: “Intense changes in emotions, whatever the cause, can lead to chest pain or even a heart attack in people with diagnosed coronary heart disease - people whose arteries have narrowed over many years.”

She added that “Factors such as sleep deprivation, poor diet, smoking and binge drinking, which are all associated with such big occasions, may also have acted as a cardiac event trigger - rather than just the excitement of the match.”

Despite the fact that the findings for soccer have been inconsistent, psychologist Douglas Carroll of the University of Birmingham in England, said the new finding “confirms something people have been highly skeptical about ... that soccer (would) produce that kind of emotional investment that might trigger a heart attack.”

Dr. Jeff Kalina, associate medical director of the ER at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, said it is true that doctors in the emergency room see different cases. According to the expert, patients are commonly treated for extreme sunburn and dehydration, because they drink too much beer in the heat. When it’s freezing outside, fans are at risk for frostbite if they’re not properly covered up.

Kalina said people simply eat and drink while being distracted by a game can be a problem, explaining that “People eat hot dogs and they jump up to cheer for a touchdown and choke on the hot dog,” Kalina says.

Some people have a nervous habit of playing with the tabs on soda and beer cans, which can lead to fingers getting stuck in the can or people choking on broken tabs. Others try to open a twist-off beer bottle with their biceps, causing lacerations.

Sometimes fans hurt other people when fights break out at games or drunken fans jump around in their seats and fall onto the people below them. People can both lose their voice and even suffer hernias when hyped-up fans scream too loudly, thus screaming sometimes can be very dangerous.

According to Dr. Ranti Familoni, a consultant cardiologist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital(OOUTH), Sagamu, there is no doubt that a soccer match can have both emotional and cardiovascular effects on those that watch the game.

He said basically because of people’s passion for the game, during a match, their heart beat and rate may be increased temporarily. However in people with heart problems such as those with primary heart disease and heart failure, the body produces adrenalin and non adrenaline hormones which raises the heart heat and because the heart is damaged already, it is like making the heart do more exercises within a short time. This makes the heart rate goes up suddenly and because their breathing can no longer cope, they may faint or slump and die.

“Actually, we tell people with heart problems not to watch soccer or other games they have passion for in real life and that even if they are to watch, it should be one that they already know the result and which will not tell on them in any way.

Dr. Familoni assured that in most people with healthy hearts, the increased blood pressure and heart rate is for a while and that it will normalize. If these however persist, he said they should seek help, explaining that this persistently high heart beat or palpitation may be the first sign in some individuals that there heart may have developed some problems.

Experts say the following can help to stay healthy during the game

* Don’t drink too much alcohol.

* Drink plenty of non-alcoholic beverages to stay well-hydrated.

* Be cautious in big, rowdy crowds.

* Don’t go overboard on the junk food.

*Don’t scream too much. Consider using a noise-maker or whistle instead (if allowed).

*If you get hurt, skip the rest of the game and seek immediately for medical care.

*If your team loses, put things into perspective and look forward to the next match-up.

* Avoid tobacco smoke and fatty meals.
*Get plenty of sleep the night before.

*Do not over-exert yourself physically.

*Try not to get too angry with the referee.