Is the tension too much? Are we dicing with death during the penalty shoot-outs?

Is watching England play football bad for your health?

Could England could be bad for your health? During the last World Cup, there was a notable increase in admissions to several A&E departments and Coronary Care units across the UK. This was particularly obvious in some of England's more exciting and tense games, when emotions were running high.

The roller-coaster of emotions - tension, excitement and frustration were just too much for some fans, especially the middle-aged and 'more mature' male supporters. England's matches sent adrenaline levels and stress hormone levels (eg cortisol) soaring, with a consequent increase in blood pressure, spasm of the arteries that supply the heart (causing attacks of angina, as well as actual heart attacks), strokes, irregular heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias, and attacks of asthma!

This adverse effect was actually described in the British Medical Journal, at the time, and when I find it I'll put the story up on this website.

So if you're on medication for blood pressure, heart disease, irregular heart beat, anxiety attacks or asthma, make sure you don't forget to take your medication, especially on the days that England play! So enjoy the football, but stay healthy!
This content was created on Tue 27 June 2006

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