From Waseda University at Science Daily:
“Sports, beyond entertainment, foster community and belonging, benefiting both individuals and society. Despite its recognized positive effects, limited evidence exists on the link between watching sports and well-being. To address this gap, a team of researchers conducted a multi-method research and found that sports viewing activates brain reward circuits, leading to improved well-being. Popular sports like baseball notably impact well-being. Their research offers insights for public health policies and individual well-being enhancement.
the team employed neuroimaging techniques to scrutinize alterations in brain activity following sports viewing. Utilizing multimodal MRI neuroimaging measurement procedures, the brain activity of fourteen able-bodied Japanese participants was analyzed while they watched sports clips. The results of this investigation illuminated that, sports viewing triggered activation in the brain’s reward circuits, indicative of feelings of happiness or pleasure. Additionally, a noteworthy finding surfaced in the structural image analysis. It revealed that individuals who reported watching sports more frequently exhibited greater gray matter volume in regions associated with reward circuits, suggesting that regular sports viewing may gradually induce changes in brain structures.”
A Way to Improve Together
Finding habits or hobbies that can reliably produce that feels-good you’re after while also being good for your body is difficult. But this study proposes that watching sports are a way to do that. Watching sports is a great way to access an activity that not only is good for yourself, but also one that you can do with others. Encouraging physical, mental, and social benefits makes sport watching an extremely valuable experience if it is as beneficial as this study claims.
