20 Mar Going to Sporting Events Boosts Mental and Physical Health
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Keyes
Dr Helen Keyes PhD, AFBPsS, SFHEA
Head of School Psychology & Sport Science
Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What types of sporting events?
Response: The data were collected as part of a large government study looking at a range of measures on health and activities across the UK population. Our study honed in on aspects of wellbeing – life satisfaction, loneliness, happiness, anxiety, a sense that life is worthwhile – as well as whether participants had attended a live sporting event in the last year. The data collected did not differentiate between different types of sport – the positive effects that we report for wellbeing are population-wide across a whole range of sports, from attending a local football match all the way up to elite sporting events.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: Three really interesting findings emerged from the study. We found that participants who had attended a live sporting event in the last year reported feeling less lonely, having greater life satisfaction and having a greater sense that life is worthwhile, compared with people who hadn’t attended any live sporting events. Indeed, the effects of attending a live sport event on a person’s sense that life is worthwhile were comparable to the effect of being in employment. In terms of life satisfaction, the effect of attending a live sporting event is comparable to ageing by 20 years (life satisfaction generally rises with age). Loneliness was also reduced in those that attended a live sporting event in the past year, above and beyond the effects that gender, age or income could explain.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Go to that football match! Attending a live sporting event seems to tap into something important for our wellbeing – being part of a crowd or community, together with a common purpose. Getting out to watch a match is a great boost for our mental and physical health.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study?
Response: We would like to look at the wellbeing effects of other, non-sport, group activities, where people come together in numbers for a common purpose. A good example might be going to live music events.
Citation:
Helen Keyes, Sarah Gradidge, Nicola Gibson, Annelie Harvey, Shyanne Roeloffs, Magdalena Zawisza, Suzanna Forwood. Attending live sporting events predicts subjective wellbeing and reduces loneliness. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.989706
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