Watching football can boost mental wellbeing, says expert in dementia

WATCHING football can be good for mental wellbeing, a dementia expert has said.

As England fans gear up to watch their team’s quarter-final clash with Sweden today, Professor Alistair Burns said older people in particular can benefit from watching classic matches such as England’s 1966 World Cup final victory.

Watching replays of sporting events can improve mental health and wellbeing by keeping the brain active and stimulating memories.

Prof Burns, who is NHS England’s clinical director for dementia, said several members of the golden generation of 1966 had experienced dementia, with winners Nobby Stiles and Martin Peters currently living with the condition.

He said: “Although fans may not feel it this week, football can be good for your nerves. The beautiful game really can help your mind and body.

“As well as being great physical exercise, there is a positive link between watching classic football matches and keeping the mind active.

“For people in old age and dealing with dementia, rewatching matches can rekindle past memories, connect people with their past and keep the brain active.”

Prof Burns said the power of sport can stimulate emotion which can be revived many years after the event.

Emotional memory, which is one of two main types of memory in the human brain, can be more powerful than memory for personal events, so as people in later life relive exciting or tense moments it can stimulate memories, potentially strengthening brain activity.

There is considerable overlap between the experience of people living with types of dementia and mental ill health.

Across the UK, 850,000 people are estimated to live with dementia, while mental ill health affects almost eight million people aged over 55.

An Age UK survey last year showed that conditions such as depression and anxiety affect half of people aged over 55 – nearly eight million people – with one in five saying their condition had deteriorated as they had got older.

Tony Jameson-Allen, of the Yorkshire-based Sporting Memories Foundation, which tackles dementia, depression and loneliness, said: “Sport unites communities and generations, it stirs the soul and can reawaken powerful emotions.”