Why Are We Addicted To Extreme Sports?

People seem to love stuff like bungee jumping and skydiving, but what draws us to these scary life-threatening experiences? Why do we want to jump off of stuff? Hey everybody, thanks for watching DNews today, I'm Trace. On May 16, 2015, Dean Potter, a celebrated extreme sportsman, and a fellow climber, Graham Hunt, jumped off a 7,500 foot cliff in Yosemite National Park with the goal of wingsuit flying through the rocky cliffs before parachuting to safety. Both men crashed while trying to fly through an outcropping, and were found dead many hours later. Basejumping is an acronym for buildings, antennas, spans, such as bridges, and earths, cliffs and mountaintops. They're all places to jump from while wearing a wingsuit, parachute or both. At least 257 people have died basejumping to date, according to a major basejumping forum, and Potter, who is a major enthusiast for outdoor extreme sports, called basejumping and free-climbing death-consequence activities. Aren't we all programmed to survive? Why do we risk death for a thrill? More than 800 people have died climbing the mountains of Nepal, which includes Everest, 442 from skydiving from 1998 to 2014, and even scuba diving sees about 80 deaths annually. Skateboarding had 30 deaths in 2012 alone. Psychologists believe we perform risky behaviors because of our fear response, and medical researchers believe it has to do with the brain's reward systems. In a small study from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, researchers explored the psychological result of fear responses in extreme sports participants. Fear is an important inborn response to perceived danger. Your body's top priority is to preserve itself, it's a way to motivate it to do so. But for some people, like extreme sports enthusiasts, overcoming fear is a meaningful and constructive event in their lives. They of course still experience fear, but it's not seen as a negative, but rather a positive experience. Potter wrote specifically and poetically about his experiences with fear, and how overcoming that fear was transformative for him. Unfortunately, that's not easily translatable for a general population, scientifically speaking. Instead, we can only look at how the chemicals in our brains surrounding fear go on to affect our behavior. When jumping out of an airplane, or free-climbing up a cliff, an almond-shaped set of neurons in our brain called the amygdala releases hormones which quicken the heart, hone the senses and prepare your body to flee or fight. It's a fear response. During this fear response, our brain's reward center releases huge amounts of dopamine. Studies have shown dopamine, a powerful reward chemical for our bodies, is also connected to the recollection of terror. It's released when we eat, exercise, or talk to our friends and family. It's reinforcing those healthy behaviors by making us feel good about doing those things. But it also helps us remember things we're afraid of. Massive dopamine release is associated with drug use and addiction, which is how extreme athletes and enthusiasts are often associated with junkies or addicts. Extreme athletes provoke this fear response in themselves, experiencing that fear of death and enjoying the natural high they get from the dopamine release that follows. The problem is, the brain can get used to these high levels of dopamine, and thus more extreme events may have to be performed to simply enjoy day-to-day life. This is called sensation-seeking behavior, language created to describe heavy-use drug addicts. A 2004 study compared ecstasy users to bungee jumpers and found similar sensation-seeking brain chemistry. The reason people continue to do these activities aside from them being fun and making them feel good, is once their brain gets acclimated to these higher levels of dopamine, it's difficult to wean it off. Like an addict, the brain craves more dopamine to feel the same high. In the end, the risk and reward are real, and people can alter their brain chemistry to get this natural high from things like base jumping. But I'm not trying to condemn people who seek out these sensations. Sure, Dean Potter participated in dangerous behaviors, but he also knew the risks and inspired people all over the globe to explore their planet first-hand, to get off their couches and into their national parks and into their world. He wanted people to try their hand at things they may not have otherwise. Extreme sports can also extend to long-distance races like marathons or ultra-marathons, but this man is 104 and he still runs races, so they can't be that dangerous, right? Seeker Daily reveals the man who just won't quit running. He's traveled the globe, broken numerous world records, and was even awarded the Empire Medal by Queen Elizabeth II. But what's even more remarkable about Foja is that he didn't start to run until he was 89 years old. Thanks for watching DNews everyone. Get out there and do something today. Even if it's just tweeting at DNews and telling us what you thought of this video.