What watching England play football does to your body

Watching England play in a major tournament is an emotional rollercoaster with moments of joy, despair and high stress arriving in quick succession. But have you ever wondered what the impact of putting yourself through such highs and lows is? We decided to put it to the test by finding out exactly what my body went through while watching England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia – and probably yours, too.

To help with this experiment, I recruited an expert in football fan psychology, Dr Martha Newson, from the Universities of Oxford and Greenwich, whose 2014 study found that Brazil fans suffered dangerous levels of stress in the World Cup semi-final.

She advised me to kit myself out with a heart-rate tracker, blood-pressure monitor, and what felt like endless blood and saliva tests to check my hormone levels in the build-up to, during and after England’s last-16 tie against Slovakia.

To generate a baseline of my heart health and stress response, I spent my Saturday evening watching a football documentary – The Figo Affair – chosen on the advice that it could not involve England, my club or any kind of violence.

My average heart rate was a healthy 61 beats per minute (BPM). My blood pressure was normal, as it had been throughout the day, ranging from 113/75 to 124/81, and although I’m engaged, I’m not stressed or excited.

Blood tests later confirm that my stress hormone, cortisol and testosterone levels are normal for the time of day.

I start match day with another normal blood pressure reading. But by lunchtime, and with less than five hours until kick-off, it has climbed 13 per cent to 132/84, which is “high normal” and suggests anxiety is creeping in.

I’m not sure if it is because England are on ITV, or if it is the fear that Gareth Southgate might start Conor Gallagher over Kobbie Mainoo again, or because we actually might get knocked out by Slovakia, but my body is feeling the strain.

It is half an hour before kick-off and I am finally in the pub, albeit wired up to the various devices checking my vitals. I am not allowed to drink alcohol – this will impact the tests – but I have to buy a Guinness Zero so at least I have something to hold onto during the game.

The atmosphere builds and the pub is packed. At kick-off, I take my blood pressure: it is an alarming 148/102, the highest it has ever been recorded, and 36 per cent higher than pre-Figo documentary 24 hours earlier.

A check confirms this is grade-two hypertension – the second of three stages of high blood pressure that would be fine if I was over the age of 60, but probably warrants an urgent trip to the GP and some serious lifestyle changes.

Dr Newson tells me it is “surprising” for a healthy 29-year-old. I am not at immediate risk but I should keep an eye on my heart health.

“In football, social identities are at stake, so hanging around with other fans and anticipating the game will get things going,” she says.

What’s more, my finger-prick blood tests from Medicheck reveal my cortisol levels – a hormone that regulates our body’s stress response – are up by 51 per cent on the day before, from 84.2 nmol/L to 127.

My testosterone is also up, from 14.5 nmol/L to 16.1, and saliva tests back up the findings.

“Testosterone tends to rise on match day regardless of how much of a fan you are. It’s as if the match is a battle call and the testosterone gets you ready for that,” Dr Newson says. “Whereas cortisol relates to how much of a fan you are, it’s an emotional stress response.”

When the game starts, I forget about the experiment and find myself giving advice to the players like I’m in Southgate’s backroom team, and hurling obscenities towards the referee (three yellow cards in 20 minutes is a joke – and where is the consistency!)

But he cannot be to blame for England’s lacklustre start and 25 minutes in Slovakia take the lead.

Deflated, the early excitement is wearing off and my heart rate has fallen from around 80 BPM to 70, where it largely stays until half-time.

My blood pressure is still “clinically high” at 133/91, and now I am craving a real beer to ease the stress.

Dr Newson says: “If levels like that were sustained, you could be at risk of developing high blood pressure.”

I rally for the second half and within five minutes Phil Foden scores.

Elated, my heart jumps by about 50 per cent to more than 90 BPM as I jump into the air. I had not clocked the likelihood of it being offside – another peril of the pub – and alas, VAR, as it has done so many times, took the fun away.

More sideways passes and hopeful crosses into the box do nothing to appease my anxiety. The rest of the second half has induced a docile BPM but the underlying stress and my high blood pressure remains.

The pub cheers as Cole Palmer comes on, but jeers when Mainoo is taken off and Ivan Toney is given one minute to make a difference. It seems certain England are heading out.

Of course, Jude Bellingham had other ideas. As his incredible overhead kick hits the net my BPM soars to the highest of the game, going from 63 to 97 in seconds – a 51 per cent jump. It is pumping as though I am jogging or cycling, despite my feet staying planted on the ground.

Dr Newson says this spike poses no risk “to a healthy individual so long as the heart is able to return to its normal level of activity like yours did”.

There is, though, a word of caution: “There is strong evidence showing that heart attacks are more common on match days because the stress levels on the heart are too much for some people, such as those with pre-existing conditions,” she says. “For someone with heart issues or unhealthy lifestyle choices that could lead to heart problems, these peaks could be problematic.”

Extra-time it is. My heart rate stays above average, and another Guinness Zero is in order. My blood pressure is up, again, perhaps because I thought we were going out.

At 143/88, I now have “isolated systolic hypertension” – most common in the elderly – and I am considering seeing the GP, but before I can process this, Harry Kane scores and in the chaos I get the blood pressure monitor caught under the table as my arms fly up.

Dr Newson says if my readings were in another environment, a doctor would recommend lifestyle interventions such as “avoiding high-risk activities such as smoking, eating fatty foods, overeating, abusing alcohol”. None of which I do, that much.

In terms of whether the game is bad for my health, she says: “This doesn’t mean not watching football, but it does mean having an awareness of your heart health as you age,” she says. Great, then – I’m OK to watch the quarter-finals...

After the referee blows the final whistle, the overwhelming feeling is relief, despite the odd bout of stress as we hung on.

But I am surprised to learn the win may have helped my heart recover. Losing is “so powerful” it apparently makes things even worse.

“Fans watching losing games experience the most stress because football is a modern equivalent for some of the extremely dangerous activities humans have taken part in for millennia, like hunting big game or tribal warfare – think of the attack and defend language”, Dr Newson says, adding that it also creates bonds of loyalty.

“When fans watch their team play, it evokes the feelings of life and death that these kind of activities once represented.”

She cites a study that found on the day England lost to Argentina on penalties in ‘98, there was a 25 per cent increase in heart attack admissions.

“The extent to which people truly care about their team isn’t recognised enough,” she says.

Should someone let the team know? Our lives could literally be in their hands.

I do some more blood tests. My cortisol is still much higher than the day before at 123 nmol/L, but has come down since the win.

I have got blood on my new England shirt, punctures, bruises and plasters on my fingers and arms, and it turns out Gareth Southgate is dangerously close to giving me a heart attack. But I don’t care. We are in the quarter-finals.