Extreme sports are perhaps the most paradoxical of all human behaviours, flying straight in the face of our most primal instincts to preserve our life at all costs. What is so powerful, drug-like almost, that compels someone of otherwise sound mind, to throw themselves out of aeroplanes, dive head-first into the abyss from a 40 story bridge, to dance, quite literally, with death?
This conundrum has fascinated scientists for decades but we now have a pretty good idea of the brain chemistries involved. To begin, let’s take a step back and put the adrenalin junkie in perspective by identifying what it is, exactly, they are seeking.
The Biochemistry of Superheros
We have all heard the stories of superhuman feats that occur in times of grave danger. Herculean strength, astonishing speed, or mind-boggling pain thresholds. Real life displays of heroic human behaviour often find their way to the silver screen (Pointbreak, 2015) or the fantastical stories of comic strips. But in truth, each and every single one of us has a superhero circuit in our brains, it just takes extraordinary circumstances for it to come to life. Unless, of course, you know how to short the system. Adrenalin junkies have learnt to do exactly that.
The Thrill of Grave Danger
When your physical safety is on the line, powerful biochemical changes take place in the brain to help you deal with the impending challenge. At the start, a tiny almond-shaped structure called the amygdala, nestled deep within your brain, becomes activated. Its job is to recognise danger in the unknown and unpredictable settings and it sends your body into the often referenced fight-or-flight mode.
This is our chief stress response and it kicks into gear to equip our minds and bodies with the necessary “juices” that we need to adequately deal with extreme circumstances. Arousal of this biochemical state is what cravings for extreme adventure are really all about.
As threat becomes imminent, the brain releases a surge of dopamine, adrenaline and endorphins. These are chemicals that influence your emotions and the functioning of your physiology. This is what thrill seekers refer to as the “rush”.
Adrenaline
The hypothalamus, AKA chief regulator of the body’s vital functions, sends a message to the adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline, which is tasked with making you feel “pumped”. Mundane woes vanish and everything around you gets cast into sharpness. Your heartbeat clambers in your ears. Your vision and focus become directed like a needle point. You are physically and mentally prepared to respond with a dexterity and nimbleness that you hardly knew you possessed.
Dopamine
Intense fear triggers the release of dopamine, the brain’s principal feel-gooddrug. To the brain, this is the “highway of reward” and dopamine is the driving force behind your sense of curiosity and excitement. As it flows, it encourages you to approach situations that you might otherwise want to back-away from. Like standing on the precipice as the air billows past the open door of an airplane, terra firma some 10 000 feet below.
Endorphins
Under these circumstances, rational concerns of broken bones are diminished as endorphins rush into your synapses – the tiny gaps that link together neurons, the brains specialised communication cells. This little chemical is like your body’s own natural opium supply and amidst the chaos, endorphins reduce pain and leave you with a profound sense of well-being. This is because the brain soothes physical pain in much the same way that it does mental pain.
At the end of it all, at the return of safety, opioids flood into the brain as you experience relief. With it comes a sense of calm serenity and the feeling of self-affirmation. You made it.
Getting Hooked in “the Zone”
Much of the allure of death-defying extreme adventures may lie in their ability to harness your concentration like this, making it laser-like and propelling you into “the zone”. Total absorption. This in itself is its own kind of pleasure, says Dr Epstein, a professor at the University of Massachusetts. Trip Jennings, the pioneering kayaker with a name to fit, describes the sensation as one of total intuition, “you’re fully committed.”
Psychologists refer to it as a state of “flow”, an optimal level of consciousness that represents the human mind at peak performance.
Adrenaline junkies will tell you that tolerance to the rush develops quickly. Once familiarity sets in and you can anticipate what lies ahead of you, the risk is no longer the same. The next near-death experience must be sought out. This, together with the intense changes that thrill-seeking elicits in the brain, is why it is likened to an addiction.
In fact, one study found that hard-core rock climbers who suddenly stop practicing their sport experience a type of withdrawal, much like is seen in recovering drug addicts.
Risk-taking is in our Genes
According to Professor Marvin Zuckerman from the University of Delaware, adventurous “sensation seeking” has a strong biological and genetic basis, which implies that it is hard-wired in our brains to promote survival. Counter-intuitive, no? But Zuckerman points out that because our early ancestors relied on hunting as a vital food source, the extreme tenacity that hunters required to successfully bring down a mighty beast, meant that those prone to risk-taking had a better chance of passing down their genetic material.
Now days, your neighbourhood steak house offers the convenience of a T-bone on the first date. And so for some, skydiving, white-water rafting and other varieties of extreme sports are taken up in the pursuit of a bona fide rush. Much safer by all accounts than coming face-to-face with predators in the wild, but delivering up, nonetheless, a healthy supply of consumer-friendly primal pleasure.
Not All of Us are Thrill Seekers
Like most psychological traits, the sensation-seeking spectrum is “bell-shaped”, meaning that only a few among us are total adrenalin junkies or completely risk-averse. Most of us fall somewhere in between.
Scientists believe that people differ in terms of how much risk they like for three key reasons. But, this is where things get confusing, as many of the theories contradict each other.
1. Differences in Dopamine
Firstly, the activity of dopamine and its rewarding bonhomie is an obvious suspect. Some theorists suggest that the dopamine system of adventure seekers is sluggish, meaning that they have to vamp things up a notch in order to feel any of the brain chemicals’ effects. Others believe that it is instead the uncharacteristically rambunctious activity of dopamine that tips the scales from terror to ecstasy.
2. The Avoidance of Harm
The second lot of theories centre around the issue of a personality trait called “harm avoidance”. A bit like having a pessimistic outlook, people who tend to perceive danger in a given situation (a snapping rope, a jammed parachute, for instance) are less likely to follow through with the plunge. If you score high on tests of harm avoidance, you’re not likely to be a thrill-seeker.
Whether or not you are a harm avoider may boil down to the behaviour of a region in your cerebral cortex (the bumpy surface area of the brain) called the insula. The insula’s job is to generate predictions of how you will feel in the very near future. It creates a map of the body’s feelings and communicates this information to other brain areas.
Like a good co-pilot, in this way the insula makes sure that you’re primed and ready to deal with upcoming challenge. Recall Jennings’ reference to the empowering feeling of “intuition”. The insula gives rise to “gut feelings” and if its not doing its job properly, the cacophony of physical and mental arousal at the door of the plane will feel overwhelming. You won’t trust your body. Or the parachute, for that matter.
3. Reckless Behaviour
Insula theories reckon that adrenalin junkies are in the command seat, highly attuned to their bodies and mind. But a third explanation of the adrenaline chase blows over all of this and argues simply that its got to do with impulsivity – that adrenaline junkies don’t think about what they are doing, they just jump, recklessly.
Not surprisingly, this meek theory has fallen out of favour. Many top extreme sportspeople are in fact highly meticulous individuals, planning their escapades to the finest detail.
We all Crave a Bit of Adventure
Brain debates and personality profiles aside, all of us house the neurophysiology to respond instinctively in positive ways to extreme forms of recreation. Scientists recently discovered what they call the brain’s “seat of adventure” – a structure called the ventral striatum that forms part of the dopamine reward system.
When you encounter something novel, something unknown and unexpected, the ventral striatum pings to life. But you don’t need to be base-jumping to harness the favourable effects of adventure, which include increased creativity and self-awareness. In other words, simply getting out of your comfort zone will do the trick.
In the End, its All About Getting into “The Zone”
Because, what many scientists are beginning to realise, is that beyond the drama of extreme sports is the brain’s yearning to hit fifth gear, to see clarity where usually there is doubt and confusion, to get into “the zone”. Zen masters achieve this state in deep meditation. Others need a more powerful switch.
And so the paradox continues. It doesn’t all make sense. But that, in fact, is the hook that keeps us coming back for more.
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