Scientists have discovered what passionate sports can make us feel i.e. watching sports affect you to the point of impacting your body weight, making you feel like you’re in a romantic relationship and even changing our brains as well as your attitude to other things.
The following findings were made by ASAPScience
Rush of pleasure.
Dopamine surges are always experienced by some fans whenever their favorite team or athlete fares well. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.
According to Erick Fernandez of SportMic,
It helps regulate emotional responses as well as movement. Whenever a fan’s team experiences a win, that individual’s “pleasure centers” will be ignited.
They feel dominant.
Science shows that increased levels of testosterone, among other things, can influence dominating and aggressive behavior. This can help explain why so many riots happen after watching your team win, levels of testosterone skyrocket, especially compared to experiencing a loss.
Read also: How real is ‘Short Man Syndrome?
Do you also feel like you are playing in the game?
Research has it that cells in the brain called mirror neurons which help people understand the actions of others and urge them to put themselves “into another’s shoes“ activate when sports fans watch games. That is why some fans are seen internalizing the actions they’re witnessing on the field and feel the accompanying emotions as if they were doing the action themselves.