With the World Cup taking place from now until mid-July across the United States, Canada and Mexico, it’s an intense time for football fans.
Featuring 48 teams competing in 104 matches at 16 stadiums, while there will be many highs, football fans are likely to experience lows too.
Here, Dr Gbolagade Akintomide, a consultant psychiatrist and interim divisional medical director at UK health care provider Cygnet Healthcare, delves into the emotional connection we can have with football and explains how we can manage our behaviours as a result.
Why do people have such emotional reactions to football?
Akintomide explains that football fandom is a form of identity. “People identify with different football teams,” he explains.
“Especially when it’s national teams. Therefore there’s a rollercoaster of emotion – from being nervous before the beginning of the match to being very happy when the team scores, to being disappointed – which can lead to those low moods.”
Those who are very involved with the team will identify that much with it, that it becomes personal to them. “This means that the failure and success of the team will be like a personal failure of success to them themselves,” he says.
Explaining what actually happens in the brain, Akintomide says: “Physiologically, we have sympathetic reactions governed by adrenaline, in which prepares us for things that we think are challenges, threats or worries.
“That tends to make us feel worried about the situation. Therefore we prepare our system to either run or fight.”
He adds that people may experience increased heart rates, respiratory rates and they may become sweaty when watching football. “In addition to that, the other hormone produced by the body is cortisol,” he explains.
“It actually prepares us to be able to face the situation by making sure we have enough energy to release glucose from the liver, as well as aiding our motor coordination.”
How can this affect people’s moods?
“Cortisol, for example, can actually lead to fluctuations in moods,” he says.
“It can lead to a low mood if the person is sad, or it can lead to excessive happiness if the person is too excited. Because of their nature, it can also lead to aggression and some other challenging behaviours.”
To help people with their emotions during intense times like the World Cup, Akintomide gives some strategies that can be implemented.
Know your triggers
“It’s important to understand your individual triggers as a person,” he says. “Are you the kind of person that after the team has lost, are excessively unhappy for a prolonged period?
“Are you the kind of person that is quite short in temper or easily become angry and lash out because of the football result? Or are you the kind that tends to drink or gamble more?
“When people are upset, sometimes they can use drinking and gambling as a form to soothe themselves. So these are signs and things people should watch out for.
“Football is supposed to be a source of enjoyment, not a source of stress.”
Avoid being online
“When people are online arguing about the result, that can make things worse,” Akintomide explains.
“If someone is saying things against your team that that you’re not happy with, it may not help. You can avoid situations like that.”
Akintomide also adds that doom scrolling and seeing more bad news, can make you feel unhappy emotions too.
Don’t drink too much
When people drink too much alcohol, they tend to lose their inhibitions, Akintomide says.
“That means they tend to lose their abilities to control their behaviour. In addition to that, it tends to worsen the mood as well.”
Do things you enjoy
He says: “If these things don’t work then you can take yourself for a walk, do some form of exercise, listen to music or do deep breathing exercises.
“You can do some sort of mindfulness or go to relatives where you can talk to them, rather than being along or with people that you’re always arguing with about the football.”
Get enough sleep
“Lastly, watch out for your sleep,” Akintomide advises.
“The more someone is anxious, the more their sleep becomes worse. Because of the football taking place at night for a lot of the games, if people are not sleeping well, that will tend to affect their mood as well. It can become a vicious cycle.”
Practise regulating your emotions
“I think people should regulate themselves during this time,” he adds.
“If a feeling of low mood, poor self-worth or lack of self-confidence continues persistently, beyond two weeks, or the feeling of life is not worth living starts entering, then that may be signs that the person is becoming depressed and, at that point, they will need to contact their GP to get proper help.”
Be aware of the domestic violence risk increase
Research published in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency in 2014 found incidents of domestic violence rise around major football tournaments, jumping by 38% when a team loses and by 26% when they win, with women and children are most at risk.
