Go long.
You may have noticed that one of the ads during this year’s Super Bowl featured choirs of children supposedly all here today thanks to past Super Bowl Sunday hook-ups. It was pretty funny (maybe not millions of dollars a second funny, but funny.) Is it true though? Does the final whistle give way to the almighty horn?
The NFL certainly claims that;
but so far they’re not giving many clues as to what this ‘data’ is or where it came from.
Still, perhaps people shouldn’t be quite so quick to dismiss the idea, especially as multiple studies have shown that sports victories are an instant testosterone boost.
Time and again it’s been demonstrated that the thrill of sporting competition, and particularly victories, stimulate a rise in levels of the male sex hormone. One notable study conducted on Spanish fans in 2010 as their team played Holland in the World Cup, found that for the duration of the game and a time after testosterone was markedly higher than normal.
A similar trial during the France 98 tournament had similar effects.
Picking up the ball and running with it, a research group of scientists from the University of Missouri conducted research which concluded that the effect is heightened even further when your team is playing their particularly fierce rivals.
This is important because they don’t call testosterone the sex hormone for nothing.
It’s well-known that healthy amounts equated to a strong libido and impressive sex drive, which is why guys struggling in that area are often considered for testosterone treatment.
It’s worth bearing in mind though that the relationship isn’t as simple as the higher the better. If testosterone reaches unnaturally high levels, such as those often seen in steroid abuse for example, can have the opposite effect.
There does seem to be some evidence at least which suggests a game of football can put you right in that hormonal N-zone, as it were.
What’s the long and the short of this article? Watching the game may scientifically count as foreplay. You’re welcome.