It's Day 1 of the World Cup, and we're in the middle of an electric NBA Finals series.

• If you're staying up past bedtime to watch the action, here's some good news: Research suggests watching sports — especially live — comes with key health perks.

"[S]ports fandom seems to be a win for mental health," Veronique Greenwood writes for Time.

🔎 Zoom in: Helen Keyes, a psychologist at England's Anglia Ruskin University, analyzed survey data from thousands of people to understand how sports fandom affects wellbeing.

• Keyes and her team found that attending live sporting events boosted life satisfaction and lessened loneliness.
• Researchers discovered that attending games had an even greater positive effect on life satisfaction than being employed.

💰 Reality check: World Cup and NBA Finals tickets aren't cheap. But you don't have to be in the stadium to reap the benefits.

• Another study revealed that even watching sports on TV boosts life satisfaction, Time notes.
• Plus, Keyes and her colleagues found that the wellbeing benefits of live sports held across the spectrum — from professional matchups to local amateur games.

📺 The bottom line: Throw that watch party! It's good for you.

Reader Jean Card sends this slice of late-spring life in New England: Hay harvesting in Stowe, Vt.