How to Cope With Football Withdrawal

Whether you were elated for the Philadelphia Eagles’ win or crushed that the Kansas City Chiefs were unable to three-peat at Super Bowl LIX, all football fans can unite in a sense of shared sadness this week as reality sets in that the football season is now over. And, while some people may mock your low moods, there’s a very real reason why no longer being able to watch fresh football is causing football withdrawal. Fortunately, there are coping strategies!

Dr Angelos Halaris, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry at Loyola Medical School. Back in 2016, Dr Halaris offered up some sage advice to make sense of the collective grief shared by football-less fans, and his words are still as apt today as they were almost ten years ago. “When the football season is over and there’s no other game on the schedule for months, you’re stuck, so you go through withdrawal,” he explained.

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Apparently, there are medical reasons for our misery because activities that we find pleasurable, like watching a game, can stimulate the neurotransmitters in our brain, releasing dopamine and bringing us feelings of contentment. But on the flip side, when this pleasurable activity is over, we feel deprived in the same way that a smoker or alcohol drinker might feel empty without another hit.

How to Cope With Football Withdrawal

Dr Halaris likened the feeling of having no football as being similar to the post-holiday blues, but fortunately, he offered some tips for making it to the new season without too much heartache:

Don’t go cold turkey

Watch football re-runs in gradually diminishing amounts

Share your feelings

Talk to a friend or partner about how you feel

Do not self-medicate with drugs or alcohol

While unpleasant, football withdrawal is not serious enough to require antidepressants or other medications.

While somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the above strategies could be the difference between feeling utterly depressed and finding a way forward. Of course, you can always get outside and even involve a buddy for a throw and catch session because physical activity is a sure-fire way to get those endorphins flowing again. But aside from the aforementioned strategies, “You’re just going to have to basically tough it out until football starts up again,” said Halaris. We are counting down the days.