Rabid sports fans tend to be less healthy

Listen up sports fans: Being passionate about sports -- watching it, that is -- can be detrimental to your health. That's the word from a sports medicine research team who conducted a study linking sports fanaticism with poorer health habits.

University of Arkansas, Little Rock, researchers surveyed 515 people and divided the participants into two groups: those who strongly identified with sports and those who did not. They found the avid sports fans tend to eat more fast food, skip breakfast more and ate more fatty foods and fewer vegetables than people who are disinterested in sports.

The sports fans had a higher body mass index than others. And, noted lead author Daniel Sweeney, "The study results also revealed that the more psychologically connected fans are to a team, the more likely they are to consume more alcoholic beverages on the days that they choose to drink than do less excited sports fans."

Maybe that last finding isn't much of a surprise. But it's fairly eye-opening to find out that people who so admire physical ability and fitness are less likely to practice healthy habits themselves. Sweeney and co-author Donna Quimby, who presented their study recently at the Arkansas Assn. for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conference, says sports fans should be targeted in public health efforts to reduce obesity-related diseases.

"People in this country spend billions of dollars each year attending games, buying team-related merchandise and following their teams through the various media," says Sweeney, a professor of sports management. "Sports fans may be a perfect segment to which health prevention marketing efforts can be directed."

Don't feel too bad, sports fans. Non-sports fans are hardly perfect physical specimens. They just have fewer bad health habits than sports fans, Sweeney says. Besides, other studies have shown sports fans are psychologically healthier.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US Presswire