Always look on the bright side…

As I write this Christmas missive, Australia has just defeated England in Perth to win back the Ashes (cricket test series), and the expectation is that the remainder of the series will be a 5–0 whitewash. A nice result, one could say. Now once we get the Rugby World Cup trophy back home where it belongs, the world will return to normal.

I have written before on the effect of sporting success (and failure) both on the national psyche as well as on cardiovascular mortality.1 Previous studies have demonstrated increased cardiovascular mortality with the outcome of local and national football teams.2,3 At a local level, male mortality (not female mortality strangely) from myocardial infarction and stroke increased on days when the local professional football team lost at home.3 This study, carried out in the north of England, followed the …