Contents:
- Medical Video: Why Are We Addicted To Extreme Sports?
- Extreme exercise is one way for athletes to 'hunt for sensations'
- Extreme sports enthusiasts have low levels of dopamine and serotonin
- Exercise and careful planning reduce fear
Medical Video: Why Are We Addicted To Extreme Sports?
What do you think of someone crossing a cliff using only a rope without safety? You must think that person is crazy. For those who love extreme sports, doing things that trigger adrenaline is a tense and fun thing. Why do you think this lover of extreme sports is not afraid to die? Find the answer in this article.
Extreme exercise is one way for athletes to 'hunt for sensations'
According to research conducted by Erik Monasterio from Otago University, athletes have the highest rates compared to most other people in terms of 'sensation search'. The sensation in question is a physical sensation. Extreme sports are one of the ways these athletes hunt down sensations.
Research published in the Journal of Kinesiology found that high-risk athletes such as extreme sports have the highest scores in terms of emotional stability, alertness, and energy compared to athletes who are not at high risk or those who are not athletes.
The motivation of an athlete to do extreme sports according to a psychologist, Bruce Ogilvie is very simple, they only need to escape to 'carve' their own way. These risk takers push their physical, emotional, and intelligence boundaries to escape from a state without tension in their daily lives.
According to research conducted by the Journal of Personality and Psychology, feeling of being trapped and stressed are some of the reasons a person does extreme sports, in addition to looking for physical sensations. However, some of them claimed to do extreme sports simply because they could manage fear differently than most people, not because they were not afraid to die.
Extreme sports enthusiasts have low levels of dopamine and serotonin
Someone who is often referred to as a 'risk taker' according to Monasterio's research has low levels of dopamine and serotonin. The dopamine hormone in the brain functions as a messenger chemical between nerve cells. This hormone can increase when certain activities occur that are related to happiness and affect the pleasant feeling of falling in love, joy, motivation, and self-confidence.
While serotonin is a carrier of signals between neural networks that regulate various physical and psychological functions of the body, including mood, sexual arousal, sleep, and social behavior. When a person lacks this hormone, it will affect feelings of depression, fatigue, and anxiety. Unlike most people who just sit on the couch and reflect, some athletes "fix" this with physical challenges.
Exercise and careful planning reduce fear
Extreme sports actually require careful planning, mountain bike athletes and extreme mountain climbers usually analyze every little thing about the route they will pass. The athletes do BASE jumping or skydiving will continue to monitor the wind or weather conditions carefully.
They also have guides, or helicopter pilots who really know the extreme places they go to face some of the worst possibilities. More than that, these extreme sports athletes have gone through training to build their confidence. The exercises they do are part of risk prevention, so anything done by these athletes remains not reckless without calculation.
