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Abstract
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Why do so many athletes keep practicing extreme sports, even though they know the danger of risking their lives? Why is our body addicted to these strong emotions? I will try to address these questions in this short editorial.
The thrills given by extreme sports attract many individuals seeking excitement. Many of these extreme sports like snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, and others, allow one to feel the freedom to challenge yourself, both physically and psychologically, and to perform any type of freestyling that would be nauseating to athletes. However, almost all extreme sports have some elements that could endanger an athlete’s life in comparison to traditional sports. These sports could be defined as “extreme” due to their tendency to be dangerous if not performed carefully or with the right equipment. After all, to experience the true “adrenaline kick,” these sports must be dangerous. Serious injuries are common among adrenaline junkies and many fatalities are reported every year. To give an example of this phenomenon according to the report of the United States Parachute Association, more than twenty people a year die due to parachuting alone. The effort required by these sports is great, but the supply of adrenaline and other hormones is sufficient to avoid tiredness resulting from exercise. The adrenaline rush increases the acceleration of blood flows to the muscles and brain, relaxes the muscles, and lastly helps with the conversion of glycogen into glucose in the liver. For every extreme sports athlete, this adrenaline rush is never enough since they are always seeking stronger emotions.
This kind of feeling cannot be otherwise experienced and many of these extreme sports athletes do not even consider a life without the excitement of these powerful moments. Furthermore, extreme sports have the capacity to establish a strong bond between individuals, thanks to the dangerous elements of the activity that requires a high level of trust between people. Consequently, this kind of friendship bond has a good impact on mental health.
The typical challenges and performances of the so-called “extreme sports” draw the attention of the spectators, growing the interest of researchers in this kind of behavior. The reasons why risk-lovers are attracted to challenges in dangerous places, or to the possibility of facing the unknown or even to the extreme conditions in which it must be lived, are strictly related to their interpretation of life, to their need of challenging life and to have complete control of the most uncertain situations ...
Language: en |