Sports Fans, Your Ticker Might Need a Timeout

Jan 31, 07:44 AM

NEW YORK

For rabid fans of the New York Giants and New England Patriots, Sunday's Super Bowl won't be just a game. It may be a health hazard.

Heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies doubled in Munich, Germany, when that nation's soccer team played in World Cup matches, a new study reports.

Researchers say there are some valid warnings to be shared with American football fans.

"I know a little bit about the Super Bowl," study author Dr. Gerhard Steinbeck of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich said in a telephone interview. "It's reasonable to think that something quite similar might happen."

He and his colleagues present their results in today's New England Journal of Medicine. They blame emotional stress for the heart problems, but they note that lack of sleep, overeating, wolfing down junk food, boozing and smoking might have played a role, too.

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