3 benefits of being a sports fan - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

By Eric Leins
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"Whoso would be a man must be a sports fan."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

OK, so that's not a real quote. What Emerson did say, in his essay Self-Reliance, was that men should be nonconformists if they want to realize their fullest and truest selves. But, say some studies, that means a man can still be at his best while conforming when he joins millions of sports fanatics. Here are some things researchers have learned about fandom that go beyond the obvious pleasure of having a drink and a snack with a few friends and watching your team win.

Improve your well-being

Research shows that the stronger a person identifies with their local sports team, the better they feel psychologically. They have better self-esteem, feel less lonely and have less stress.This goes for females, too. But there is a catch. The connection between well-being and identifying with a sports team weakens when the sports team is not local.

As some traditional ways of connecting with society (such as religion, extended family, etc.) diminish, identification with a sports team can in some cases help people try to re-establish and maintain social connectedness, for better or worse. The sports fans of unsuccessful teams are not immune to the negative affects (such as sadness and frustration) of seeing their team lose. But they still benefit from feeling connected in their mourning.

Beef up your language skills

Research shows that when you take part in an activity, like playing a sport, your ability to comprehend language about that activity is better than if you didn't actively take part. That makes sense, but now it's known that even by just watching the activity, your language skills related to that activity are better than the person who doesn't play or watch. Put another way, this means that your mind-body connection can benefit by being a fan just like it does when you're an athlete.

Live the fantasy

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, more than 20 million people in the U.S. alone - 90 percent of them men - play fantasy sports. Reactions against taking part in fantasy sports are well known. Many wives, girlfriends and significant others have felt less significant because of a fan's focus on managing their fantasy team (on top of their normal fan activities). And some see it as geeky or not grounded in reality. But research shows that being active in fantasy sports offers men a chance to feel, well, manly. Having control and authority, competing against others and bonding with other men all contribute to a man's sense of being a man. But this same research is quick to point out that fantasy sports leagues can be hostile toward women.

So, like most fun things in life, if you want to benefit from being a sports fan, it requires moderation. But before you let someone make you feel strange because they can't figure out why you paint your face and wear a jersey with someone else's name and number, just remember another Emerson line: "To be great, is to be misunderstood."

View the original article on myOptumHealth.com

SOURCES:

• Davis N, Duncan MC. Sports knowledge is power: reinforcing masculine privilege through fantasy sport league participation. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 2006;30(3);244-264.

• Beilock SL, Lyons IM, Matarella-Micke A, Nusbaum HC, Small SL. Sports experience changes the neural processing of action language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2008;105(36):13269-13273

• Wann DL. Examining the potential causal relationship between sport team identification and psychological well-being. Journal of Sport Behavior. 2006;March.