Steelers got you stressed? Try meditation
Just a minute can help fans avoid the worst effects of a game’s stress, expert says
If the mere thought of Tom Brady marching down the field with those dinky, 8-yard dump-off passes gets your blood boiling, or the monotone musings of Bill Belichick dodging another question makes you want to pull your hair out, a Carnegie Mellon University professor has some health advice ahead of today’s stressful AFC championship between the Steelers and New England Patriots.
“As fans, we don’t have much control over the outcome of the game, so you have a feeling of not being able to do anything about the ups and downs of the game,” said David Creswell, associate professor of psychology at CMU. “That is ripe context for you to lose control and feel the [adverse] health effects of that stress: Your heart races; you spend much of the game mindlessly grabbing chicken wings or chips.”
Mr. Creswell is an expert on the health benefits of “mindfulness meditation,” the 2,500-year-old practice that dates back to Buddha, though he notes it does not have to have a religious context to benefit you.
He believes that even just a minute during the game — halftime is probably best for most Steelers fans who can’t bear the thought of turning away from the game — can help avoid the worst effects of the stress of the game.
“Mindfulness meditation can be really helpful in situations like this, giving you a chance to really check in with yourself,” he said.
Though you can pay money to take classes to learn how to meditate, Mr. Creswell said the basics of it are simple: Just find a place to be alone for about a minute, close your eyes, and be aware of yourself breathing in and out through your nose.
The concerns of the stress of merely watching a game are real, said Robert Kloner, at cardiologist and researcher at Huntington Medical Research Institutes in Pasadena.
Research he and his colleagues have done found there was a connection between cardiac-related mortality rates in the hometowns of some Super Bowl teams that either won or lost.
In the hometowns of teams that lost — including Los Angeles in 1980 when the Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams — “We found an increase in overall death and cardiac death” in the four days after the Super Bowl, he said.
But in towns that won — including Pittsburgh in 2009 when the Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals — “circulatory-related deaths actually went down,” he said.
“The question is why is this? There can be an emotional connection between fans and their teams, and it can vary from place to place,” he said, resulting in health impacts.
So, would stressed-out Steelers fans use such techniques today?
Karen Marryshow, 50, a lifelong Steelers fan from Ohio Township shopping for Steelers gear at Yinzers in the Strip District on Friday, swore that she did not need any help with her stress during the game.
“But my husband does,” she said, laughing. “He stands 2 inches from the [TV] screen and yells at it.”
She said she was going to tell him about the technique Mr. Creswell recommends “to help him cope.”
Craig Markovitz, 47, of O’Hara, said he definitely gets stressed out during games, and, along with his son, Danny, 17, “we both do a lot of pacing.” Would meditation help? “Theoretically it sounds great. But as soon as Ben [Roethlisberger] gets sacked, it all goes out the window,” he said. “But, hey, we’re willing to try anything.”
One prominent Steelers fan, Pittsburgh Dad of Youtube.com fame (actor Curt Wootton) wasn’t so sure he would use Mr. Creswell’s advice — even if it might have helped with his stress during last week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Mindfulness meditation? Is that some sort of code for drinking IC Lights or something?” he said in an email response to the Pittsburgh PostGazette. “Even that wouldn’t stop me from stressing about this game! Yinz can meditate till your eyes fall out of your head, but the bottom line is the Steelers are going to make you worry. Period. What you should be doing is using your mind powers to screw up Belicheck and Brady. If every Steelers fan concentrates hard enough right now maybe we can jinx them two jags so’s they forget to show up to Gillette Stadium this Sunday. Advantage Pittsburgh!”
Sounds like he’s already stressed out.