Watching sports also improves fitness

According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Western Sydney, watching other people play sports also makes you healthier by increasing your heart rate and breathing.

Specifically, in this study, many small needles were inserted into the nerve endings of volunteers, to record the electrical signals of nerve fibers that control blood vessels.

Participants were initially allowed to view still images on a computer screen while researchers tracked their sympathetic neuronal activity. These indicators are still stable when they see static images but have changed when they watch the short video footage of a running athlete.

This is the first study to show that sympathetic neuronal activity increases when people see physical activity.

However, according to researchers, although watching other people play sports helps improve fitness but it is not comparable to the practice yourself.