Watch less, play more

Here in Scotland we have been slightly protected from the emotional storm of the World Cup. But – English readers be warned – the fall-out is not just psychological. While exercise certainly is good for us, medical studies focusing on sports events suggest that our physical health tends to suffer when football is played on the grand stage, as watching highly charged games can be dangerous. On the day in 1998 that England lost to Argentina in a penalty shootout, the rate of heart attack increased in England by 25 per cent – a blip not seen with any of the less stressful matches England played.

These “extra” heart attacks numbered 55 in total and, while this is a relatively small number, it echoes findings elsewhere. The rate of heart attack in Dutch men also rose during Euro 96, when their country was knocked out by France in a penalty shootout.

In 2008, The New England Journal of Medicine published a paper examining heart attacks in Bavaria during the 2006 World Cup. Researchers found that during a stressful football match, heart attacks in the region increased from an average of 12.6 per day to almost 30 at the peak of excitement during the games – and this was true even when Germany won.

So, is there any health-related upside to the tournament? One of the reasons why world-class sport is taxpayer-funded is that we are told it will inspire us to clamber back onto the field, and that new facilities will be made available to everyone. But a stadium for fantastic athletes isn’t what would most benefit the population at large.

In public health terms, the greatest good is not to create a few elite athletes but a large mass of fairly active citizens. Recent evidence in a systematic review published in the BMJ (co-authored by my brother) found that there is no evidence to justify the belief that hosting major sports events will provide later health benefits. In other words, we cannot gleefully accept the invitation to hold massive sporting events, build large stadiums and then expect that all will be well in a newly healthy population.

More modest outlays may work much more effectively. Several of our local parks have recently been refreshed with football courts and basketball nets, outdoor gym equipment and challenging play equipment. Every time I have walked past, children and adults have been using them. I reckon this is a very good investment. And you never know, if some of those boys kicking balls about do well, 2014 might even be Scotland’s World Cup year.

Margaret McCartney is a GP in Glasgow.

margaret.mccartney@ft.com

Follow Margaret’s blog: www.margaretmccartney.com/blog