Researchers found that extreme sports athletes often don’t consider their sports risky, and dedicate a lot of time studying and minimizing risks. They believe they have done all they can to mitigate risks through hard work and focus.
New research debunks the myth that those who participate in extreme sports are adrenaline junkies with a death wish. Instead, researchers at Queensland University of Technology say that those who participate in extreme sports do it to have an experience that is life-changing.
Far from the traditional risk-focused assumptions, extreme sports participation facilitates more positive psychological experiences and express human values such as humility, harmony, creativity, spir..."
Those who practice life-threatening extreme sports do it to have an experience that is life-changing, to feel alive and have an almost transcendental sensorial clarity.
Extreme sports have the potential to induce powerful and meaningful non-ordinary states of consciousness. They have been shown to be affirmative of life and the potential for transformation.
Why get into adventure sports? They're fast-paced, action-packed and perfect for adrenaline junkies! Who is it for? Anyone who wants to take a risk and test their bodies to the extreme. Is there a cheap option? Many clubs offer free taster sessions, and cheap hire of equipment- so you don't need to spend money on getting your own kit to begin with.
Last weekend, famed extreme athlete Dean Potter, along with fellow climber Graham Hunt, died in a BASE jumping accident as the pair attempted a wingsuit jump off Taft Point, an overlook that towers over Yosemite Valley. And on Monday, a YouTube video surfaced of a 73-year-old BASE jumper named James E.
“My vision is sharper, and I’m more sensitive to sounds, my sense of balance and the beauty all around me. … Something sparkles in my mind, and then nothing else in life matters.”
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“The activity itself enables experiences that are beyond the everyday. People talk about their senses being alive, about being able to see things much more clearly. It gives them a glimpse of wh...
“The activity itself enables experiences that are beyond the everyday. People talk about their senses being alive, about being able to see things much more clearly. It gives them a glimpse of what it means to be human as in the capacities they have that we don’t tap into in everyday life.”
- Eric Brymer, psychologist, on the effects of extreme-sports
Many extreme athletes are careful and thoughtful planners, and avoid thrill-seekers when possible.
Most research that links extreme-sports to thrill-seeking, hedonism, and a taste for risk, was done using young subjects, who tend to be impulsive and poor decision-makers regardless.