Warning: watching football could be damaging to your health

FOOTBALL could be damaging to your health as new research suggests that avid football viewers are in increasing danger.

A Swiss study compared heart attack rates for the World Cup in 2002 and those from previous years. It revealed that heart attacks outside hospitals went up by almost 60% during the championships.

Though there is no concrete link yet between the tension and excitement of a football match and heart attacks, other studies back up the Swiss findings. The British Medical Journal last year found that heart attacks increased by 25% when England lost to Argentina in a penalty shoot-out during the 1998 World Cup.

In response to this, doctors in Portugal are calling for heart shock machines to be installed in stadiums ahead of next year’s European Championships. They believe that the risk is far greater for fans who attend live games.

“The risk of suffering a heart attack is greater when you watch a game live because of the noise and collective anxiety. We need to avoid the rise in deaths due to heart problems which happen every time there is a big football event,” said President of the Portuguese Federation of Cardiology, Dr Manuel Carregeta, who added that, at a minimum, all 10 football stadiums that will be used to host the 31 matches of the Euro 2004 tournament should be outfitted with defibrillators. These can be used to shock a heart back into a normal rhythm.

GPs are being asked to warn patients with heart conditions to take extra precautions when either watching or attending games.

People tend to smoke and drink more while watching games and be less active.

This will be especially relevant this weekend as Ireland takes on Russia in a vital Euro 2004 qualifier.

Football fans could reduce their risk of having a heart attack before a match by eating a light meal, and avoiding coffee and alcohol.