New research has found that having your favorite team lose at the Super Bowl might increase risk for death by cardiac arrest.  This is especially true if you are over 65. This finding comes a week before Super Bowl XLV which will see the Green Bay Packers face the Pittsburg Steelers.

A study published in Clinical Cardiology, found that following Super Bowl loss of the Rams to the Steelers in Los Angeles County in 1980; there was a spike in heart-related deaths for both men with 15 percent, and  women with 27 percent. The total death rate was much higher for older patients (2.57 deaths per 100,000) than for younger individuals (0.11 per 100,000). Researcher Robert Kloner, MD, PhD at Los Angeles Good Samaritan Hospital and his colleagues found that the deaths were statistically significant in their link to the Super Bowl loss of the hometown team with both older and younger patients.

“Physicians and patients should be aware that stressful games might elicit an emotional response that could trigger a cardiac event,” said Kloner according to a statement restated by Bloomberg.

The study followed the number of heart -related deaths in the few days following the two past games and comparing the data with deaths in other January and February times for the same years. The results definitely supported the claim that a home team loss can be stressful enough to trigger a heart attack, says the San Francisco Gate.

The reason given for this spike in heart attacks following a loss, is the increase in emotional stress during the game, especially when it’s close. Kloner argues that this is enough to induce the fight or flight response in many people and in some cases lead to the rupturing of plaques that cut off blood flow to the heart. This can lead to a heart attack. Many other periods of emotional stress have also traditionally brought on increased cases of heart attacks such as during the holiday season or following an earthquake or other traumatic event reports TIME.

So for please for goodness sake’s, root for your favorite team next week, but don’t take any loss to heart, literally. The losing team still gets millions of dollars and you might just end up in the hospital or dead.

If you want more information on the link of high emotional stress and heart attack, check out this great book, The 15 Minute Heart Cure: The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Just Minutes a Day.