"It feels like depression, it always does after such events,” says an Argentine a night after his country’s triumph at the Qatar World Cup.
When nudged to remember that not even twenty-four hours had passed since Argentina had won the Cup, he retorted with: “I am obviously happy with the win, but what now?”
Mendoza-resident Jerry continues to watch the highlights of the Argentina-France final on a small screen at a local brewery in Bengaluru, the chair turned away from two other Argentine research students.
He’s still wearing the iconic No. 10 Lionel Messi jersey - La Albiceleste more beige and stone blue by now.
Jerry knows every play-by-heart, and yet he reacts as if it were his first time watching the game.
“This is usually referred to as sign-directed behaviour (aka sign-tracking behaviour), and this is usually the basis for addiction,” says Balaji Jayaprakash, an associate professor from the Centre of Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science.
“These are like any other pleasurable events which involve the dopaminergic reward circuitry in the brain. This surge of dopamine is being built over repeated exposure, and this makes us behave in certain ways.”
Balaji uses the analogy of a person waiting for an elevator to drive home the point. “Most people, when waiting for an elevator of a high-rise building, keep pressing the button as if that’s going to make the elevator come faster,” he says.
“You think this is rational at the moment, but what’s happening is that this gives you an opportunity to express sign-directed behaviour. It’s entirely irrational, and you can’t control it.”
Balaji also reveals that sign-directed behaviour is one of a reason for riots and fan clashes.
Purpose and engagement, it turns out, is why fans endure withdrawal-like symptoms when big-ticket events such as World Cups, English Premier Leagues, Indian Premier Leagues and such come to an end.
Studies have revealed that the result - whether positive or negative - wanes as an emotion sooner than the effects of ‘withdrawal’ from the event and/or process.
Professor SP Arun from IISs, notes: “In the case of sports when you get that experience, you crave more and more. Obviously, it isn’t nearly as ‘addictive’ as a drug which directly affects your system, but in some sense, it does trigger similar responses.
“This data provides evidence that group membership influences emotion and that the positive emotional experience associated with group success persists longer than the negative emotional experience associated with group failure.”
Also, the routine of watching high-intensity sports over a significant period of time causes verifiable changes to our psyche, even physiology.
Jerry’s country-mates reveal in due course of the conversation that he hasn’t slept since the game, he hasn’t eaten either.
It’s not uncommon for sports fans to lose sleep over games being televised from other parts of the world. In fact, a ‘significant chunk’ of the 120 million-odd viewers from India stayed on to watch the 12.30 am (IST) games which would inevitably push their sleep time to beyond 2.30 am (IST).
“This is horrible for their memory,” says Balaji. “Sleep works in phases. It first accumulates and then it begins to consolidate. If you don’t sleep, you don’t consolidate information as well. What happens then is that your memory is fickle, and you lose discerning abilities.”
Eddie Streem, a sports psychologist out of Edinburgh, notes that fans, just like athletes, feel the lull once an event concludes.
“I have seen a spike in fans seeking therapy after big events in the last decade,” he says. “It genuinely feels like a loss to some people, and in some cases, it’s the end of the routine which pushes them to seek help. Athletes go through this, more so those who lose, but even the ones who win, don’t derive the same level of pleasure after a point.”
“It is at this point that they set new goals, or in some cases go down the wrong road. Fans aren’t too different,” he adds.