Women are often baffled by men’s reactions to sport. Indeed some men are baffled too. As the World Cup will soon be upon us, and
the nations euphoria will build on mass before, no doubt, we have to
console
ourselves at the loss of yet another penalty shoot out, I thought it might be
useful to reflect on what’s going on ... in our brains.
The key to understanding men’s reactions to the World Cup,
or any sport for that matter, is testosterone.
From as early as being an unborn child, testosterone shapes and
dominates men’s brains. It literally
kills off ‘female’ parts of the brain, and builds the male brain that will seek
out beautiful girls ... and sport. So
how is testosterone implicated in sport?
Researchers have found that leading up to a competition;
men’s brains become flooded with testosterone.
This is the same whether we are competing or simply watching. The testosterone gives us our sense of excited
anticipation, but it also gives us a belief that our team cannot lose. Given that our brains evolved over millions
of years, it’s easy to see why such excitement and confidence could give us an
advantage. Going to hunt or war is going
to be more successful if fuelled by excitement and self confidence.
Researchers have also found that if we, or our team, should win,
our testosterone levels fly through the roof.
This is a natural high, not dissimilar to cocaine, and it’s
addictive. The natural high these
elevated levels of testosterone give us makes us behave with a cockiness and
self assuredness that can drive women bonkers.
Women have a testosterone rush with sport too, but with only about 10%
of the testosterone of what a man gets, even the keenest women isn’t going to
view the World Cup in the same way as a man.
As a result, this part of being a man is permanently off limits to women
... they just don’t get it.
You can see this male typical behaviour down the pub. The excitement and confidence make us wear
silly hats and face paint and we bond with our fellow supporters. The modern equivalent of hunting the wild
boar. If we win ... happy days ... our
testosterone soars and we party on the high.
As our team progresses through the World Cup with (hopefully) win after
win, you can see the effects of this group narcosis everywhere, in the proud
display of flags and national colours.
But what if we lose?
Well I guess we’ve all experienced that flat feeling when the final
score comes in. The game is over. All hope has gone. We have lost.
Men silently finish their drinks and mooch off home feeling despondent,
often for days at a time. It is as if your
emotional world has just collapsed. Why
is this? Well researchers have found
that if our team should loose, our testosterone levels also collapse. As a result, the fuel for the natural high
dries up, making is sullen and unresponsive.
We experience a mild depression and self doubt. We even lose interest in
sex. This is a hormonal crisis for men. A sort of male PMT.
Because women don’t experience the high, they can’t relate
to the low either. Any attempts to
explain your feeling of despondency is bound to fail. Women are biologically not equipped to ‘get’
what we are going through. The best
thing to do is disappear off to the shed for a few days, and wait for our
hormones to get back to normal. Space
and time will heal; just let her know that’s what you need.
But what if we don’t lose, what if we actually win the World
Cup? Well we can expect a testosterone
high that we will last for months. The
nations feel good factor will skyrocket.
It might even boost our economic output.
Eventually, of course, our bodies will return to normal. But we will remember the testosterone fuelled
euphoria for the rest of our lives. I
hope we win.
Dr Phil Tyson is a Men's Psychotherapist based in Manchester in the
UK. He offers:
Dr Tyson is also regularly quoted in the printed media and as a guest on local and national broadcast media.
