Eagles fans looking to adopt healthy lifestyles may have just received the boost they need. Science suggests that winning can stimulate healthy behaviors among fans, and there's no stronger stimulant than a Super Bowl victory. When you layer in the season's story of redemption, it's easy to see how the Super Bowl can serve as a triggering event for those who have tried and failed to sustain healthy habits.
Hope also is found in a broader context of fandom. Outside the U.S., experiments built on the passion of fandom to inspire healthy practices have proven successful and further demonstrate the power of fandom as a pathway to healthy behaviors. While these models were government partnerships that had soccer teams engaging their fans in new and extended ways, the approach proved successful.
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Yes, the Birds achieved their goal, and fans can learn from their journey. The question is whether this Super Bowl season can inspire the men and women who bleed green to embark on their own journeys to achieve the health and happiness they seek. In September, the Eagles were 2-2 and not looking so good. By February they were champions. So, if you've struggled to maintain healthy habits, or to start eating healthy and exercising, let the season we just witnessed be a source of inspiration.
The benefits of watching your favorite team win it all
In the run-up to the NFC championship game, I examined the science of fandom and the connection between team devotion, our health and behaviors. The research is fascinating and has implications for Eagles fans. Not only is there a connection, but wins and loses make a difference — with each producing opposite behaviors. Considering the Eagles' dominating victory, they're worth another look.
The Cleveland Clinic reports the outcome of NFL games affects fans' eating habits the following day. Researchers who monitored the eating habits of NFL fans for two seasons found that, after losses, fans consumed 10% more calories and 16% more saturated fat than usual. A close game or a tough loss pushed the percentages higher. On the plus side, a big win prompted the opposite reaction. Fans ate foods with about 9% less saturated fat and 5% fewer calories than their regular diets.
There you go Eagles fans, your first dose of inspiration. There's more.
A model from Europe
For more than a decade, a men's health and fitness approach that originated in the United Kingdom – and based on the affinity that men have for their professional soccer franchises – has been prompting men to work out, eat right and learn how to live healthy. The program, which has since expanded worldwide and into other sports, demonstrated the extraordinary power of fandom as a vehicle to healthy behaviors, initially among men and eventually women.
Football Fans in Training, or FFIT, started in Scotland through a collaboration of the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh, and the Scottish Premier League Trust. Admittedly, while the program was anchored in fandom for soccer teams, it went beyond traditional fan engagement by offering participants the opportunity to train at team facilities with workouts led by team-affiliated personnel. Fans received franchise-branded T-shirts, and players from the professional club occasionally visited the workouts. The initial participants attended for free, because the experiment was a government-funded initiative.
The goal was to incentivize weight reduction through physical activity and improved diet. A 12-week program included physical group exercises and drills, as well as instruction on diet. The program emphasized lifestyle education, not just weight reduction. Most notable was the peer support among the men. Shared physical and social experiences created a comfortable environment that made the program highly popular. One year after completing the program, FFIT participants had lost, on average, almost 11 pounds more than a control group that did not participate. Studies showed they were inspired to adopt self-defined goals and start other forms of physical activity.
The popularity and success of FFIT prompted officials to extend the model to other countries in Europe through the creation of European Fans in Training, or EuroFit. Studies of these programs have documented the power of professional sports club settings as motivators for the adoption of healthy behaviors among men. Evidence of the model's adaptability in other cultures can be found in Canada's Hockey Fans in Training program and the Australian Football League's Aussie-Fit. Both confront the common need for weight reduction among men, and the power of leveraging a man's emotional connection to his sports teams.
I'm not counting on the NFL to extend their fan experience to the level of FFIT, remembering that FFIT and its global successors were government initiatives in public health, but I'd love to see a modest pilot in a partnership between the NFL and the federal government or maybe Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, these international examples show how fandom can be a springboard to advance the world of personal health and well-being, even if it requires people to act on their own.
Your motivational model
No question, the Eagles are a tough group led by a resilient coach focused on a singular goal. They've handed us a lesson in success and a model for our individual pursuit of health and happiness. The ups and downs of the 2023 season and initial struggles of 2024 was their version of what we all go through in life when distractions and responsibilities throw us off our diet and exercise routines.
But take heart, just like the Birds this season, we can right our personal course for healthy behavior. Our brothers and sisters in the international community have demonstrated the power of their soccer and hockey fandom to inspire their lifestyles. There's no reason why we can't do the same.
No, we're not professional athletes making millions of dollars, but in our world the benefits of living healthy are priceless. So, stay committed, keep focused and conduct your personal game plan with Eagles-like dedication. You're sure to be a winner in the game of healthy living.
Louis Bezich, senior vice president and chief administrative officer at Cooper University Health Care, is author of "Crack The Code: 10 Proven Secrets that Motivate Healthy Behavior and Inspire Fulfillment in Men Over 50." Read more from Louis on his website.