How's your ticker?

Last November, after attending the double overtime game in Salt Lake City, I e-mailed Don Anderson and mentioned that I had missed him and his photos during the trip. His response, “With my heart, I’d be dead by now.”

How many times have you felt your heart beat fast during a close game? Really fast? Last month we read what we’ve known all along, and now have another report in a respected, peer-reviewed journal: during stressful sporting events blood pressure climbs and heart rates rise, causing cardiac emergencies to increase.

This recent result: German researchers found Bavarian soccer fans more than doubled their risk of heart attacks and cardiac trouble while watching televised matches of the 2006 World Cup soccer championships. Men had heart attacks or cardiac arrhythmia 3.26 times as frequently, and women, 1.82 times. (Study design compared the number of cardiac admissions in the emergency rooms for days when Germany played versus days when they didn’t play.)

An earlier study found heart attacks in England rose when that team lost to Argentina in during the 1998 World Cup.

And, the University of Maryland has found that male fans tend to put off getting to the emergency room when they do suffer symptoms!

What to do? I suppose there are several possible solutions to this potential health risk. My favorite is for Stanford to win by 20 every game. Works for me and my heart.

And, speaking of hearts—Happy Valentine’s Day!