How to Unwind While Watching a Sporting Event

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We’ve all been there. It’s the bottom of the ninth, your team is down by one, and your heart is pounding so hard you can feel it in your throat. Or it’s the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, and you’re pacing a trench into your living room carpet.

Let’s be honest: watching a sporting event, especially when your team is playing, is not always relaxing. It can be a high-strung, nail-biting, and anxiety-fueled experience.

But here’s the key: that game stress is a fun stress. It’s an escape. It’s a temporary, chosen anxiety that provides a powerful, much-needed distraction from the real stresses of the world—the deadlines, the bills, the endless to-do list.

The art of watching sports, then, is not about eliminating the thrill of the game; it’s about enhancing the ritual of the experience. It’s about creating an environment of comfort and intention, a self-care bubble where the only thing that matters is the game.

For many, this ritual is a multi-sensory experience. It’s the food, the friends, and the atmosphere. For some, it’s the classic tradition of marking the occasion by selecting, cutting, and lighting a few premium cigars to enjoy during a long, slow-paced game or as a victory celebration. Whatever your ritual, the goal is to transform your viewing from a frantic, stressful event into a truly restorative escape.

1. Create a No-Scramble Sanctuary

You can’t unwind in a chaotic environment. If you’re scrambling to find a bottle opener, fighting with the remote, and wiping up a spill, all while the game is starting, you’re just trading one form of stress for another.

The secret to a relaxing game day is to prepare your space in advance.

The 30-Minute Prep: Before the broadcast even begins, get your sanctuary ready. Have the snacks laid out, the drinks in a cooler or the fridge, and the seating arranged.

Set the Lighting: Dim the main overhead lights and turn on some warmer, ambient lamps. It’s a simple trick that makes the entire room feel cozier and more like a dedicated viewing room.

When the game starts, your only job is to sit down and enjoy it. You’ve created a space where everything is handled, allowing your mind to fully check out of host mode.

2. Engage All Your Senses

A high-stress game tends to hijack two of your senses: sight and hearing. A great way to ground yourself and make the experience more pleasurable is to actively engage the other three.

Taste: This is the most obvious one. A great game-day snack is essential. But think beyond just a bag of chips. The ritual of cooking a pot of chili or smoking some wings is a part of the experience itself.

Smell: The aroma of that chili, the scent of a quality candle, or, as mentioned, the rich aroma of a good cigar are powerful sensory anchors.
Touch: This is the cozy factor. If it’s a fall football game, have a soft, comfortable blanket on the couch. Wear your favorite, broken-in team sweatshirt.

When you create a full, multi-sensory bubble, the experience feels less like a frantic watch and more like a luxurious, restorative event.

3. Go Notification-Free

This is perhaps the most important modern tip. You cannot unwind if your phone is buzzing every 30 seconds with a work email, a news alert, or a text from your cousin about his fantasy team.

The game is your excuse to perform a true digital detox. When you sit down, put your phone on Do Not Disturb.

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No Work Email: This is non-negotiable. Your work brain needs to be completely off.

No Second-Screening: Try to resist the urge to scroll through social media or check stats while you watch. The goal is to single-task and give your brain a rest from the constant information overload.

This is your permission slip to be 100% focused on one non-essential, fun thing.

4. Embrace the Built-In Pause Button

The structure of most sports is perfect for relaxation. A baseball game has the seventh-inning stretch. A football game has a halftime. A golf tournament has long, quiet moments between shots.

Use these moments as a real pause.

Don’t just watch the pundits. Get up. Walk outside for five minutes. Stretch.

Use it as a reset. This is the perfect time to step away from the tension of the game, take a few deep breaths, and mentally decompress before the second half begins.
This is the ideal moment for that cigar ritual—a deliberate, 15-minute act of slowing down, stepping away from the screen, and just being.

5. Focus on the Connection

At its heart, sports are a communal experience. They are designed to be shared. The single best way to reduce the bad stress of a game is to remember why you’re watching.

If you’re with friends: Focus on the camaraderie. The game is the backdrop for the conversation and the shared jokes. The real win is the time spent together.
If you’re watching alone: Use it as a rare, valuable moment to connect with yourself. It’s a chance to be completely alone with your own thoughts (and the game), with no one demanding anything of you.

This focus on the psychological importance of rituals is what separates a truly restorative experience from a simple, stressful habit.

Your team will not always win. That is the one thing you cannot control. But you can control the experience. By creating a comfortable, intentional, and sensory-rich ritual around the game, you can guarantee that you get a win every single time you sit down to watch.