ATLANTA, Ga. (WIAT) For most of us football is entertainment, but if you're not careful Super Bowl fun could turn into some health problems. The intensity of a good football game. When can it be too much?

Dr. Arshed Quyyumi, a cardiologist at Atlanta's Emory University says emotional stress from disasters like earthquakes or floods can trigger heart attacks even death, but the super bowl?

Researchers in LA studied football fans there in the 1980s. They found a Super Bowl loss by the LA Rams was associated with more cardiac deaths than the win by the LA Raiders four years later and the difference was more dramatic among women than men.

They also found intensity of the game mattered. The Rams' 1980 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was a nail-biter. Super Bowl party rituals like overeating, drinking and smoking may be part of the problem.

There's no one-size-fits-all guide for prevention, but Quyyumi has some advice for people with heart disease.

This precaution applies to all smokers and anybody with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes.