The Olympics are just around the corner and millions of us will be tuning in to watch the world’s finest athletes compete in the historic competition.
Whether you’re lucky enough to be in the audience or just watching at home, the Olympics are quite the spectacle, even for those of us who don’t regularly engage in watching sports.
While we can feel high stress while watching the athletes, research has actually found that watching the Olympics on a screen or in person can actually be very beneficial for your health.
How watching the Olympics can improve your wellbeing
Psychology experts wrote for The Conversation about this phenomenon and said: “We found that people in the UK who attended a live sporting event in the last year are more satisfied with their lives, feel their lives are more worthwhile, and are less lonely than people who have not.
“These findings chime with other studies, which found that people who watch sports in person at least once a year have fewer depressive symptoms than those who do not.”
The experts went on to explain that those who watch sports are more likely to report higher feelings of life fulfilment than people who don’t, regardless of whether they watch sports in-person, on TV, or online.
The researchers suggested that this was due to the social aspects of watching sports, and the community that’s created when we support the same team as others do.
They explained: “Through our shared social identity, we also share the social and emotional benefits of successes amongst our group. Researchers at KU Leuven in Belgium have dubbed this “basking in reflected glory.”″
However, we are more likely to distance ourselves from our community if our team loses to protect ourselves from negative and social psychological consequences.
The Olympics take place between Friday, July 26th and Sunday, August 11th. In the UK, people can watch them on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.