Practicing sports has always been considered an element of maintenance of the state of health not only physical but also psychological.
Since primary schools, the weekly practice of physical education is expected, in which we are accustomed to team play, to the “competitive” physical performance, in the presence of pre -established rules to adapt to the playing field.
Growing up, sport remains the moment of sharing with friends, of discontinuity with often sedentary life, exploration of “new territories” or pure and simple entertainment with a rose of activities that can be carried out and to which to passionately be passionate within which everyone finds the thing that most suits their own aptitudes.
There are many factors that lead to passionate about a sport rather than another, not least the personological traits and beliefs connected to them. For example, among the many activities there are the so -called extreme sports that according to some research attract subjects with well -defined characteristics. By extreme sports we mean “competitive activities within which the participant is subjected to ‘unusual’ physical and mental challenges, such as adaptation to speed, to height, depth or natural forces and where quick and precise perceptual-cognitive elaborations are required”.
There are many sports counted in the “extreme” category, parachuting, off -pity skiing, the base-jump and so on; Everyone has the characteristic the conscious intake of more or less serious risks in practicing them. This type of activity has for a long time considered only the prerogative of people motivated by the need for adrenaline, with little tolerance towards boredom and characterized by cynicism, carelessness of danger, impulsiveness and self -centeredness.
Zuckerman had identified a personological trait united to extreme sports practitioners: the Sensation Seeking (literally: in search of sensations). This trait is defined as “the search for sensations and experiences other than the norm, new, complex and intense and the willingness to take risks, physical, social, legal and financial to achieve this experience”.
Obviously this trait also has other implications, especially social, but as already mentioned it has often been associated with those who try their hand at extreme sports, connoteing them as deviant from a rule that would like normal in risk of risk.
More recently, however, the research has been oriented to explore the positive effects of so -called extreme sports or activities considered risky, both in the short and long term. Those who take part in adventurous sports activities report better qualities of life, emotional regulation capacity, interpersonal skills, faces in the face of emotions such as fear and pleasant kinesthetic sensations.
The fear elected by the risk, usually avoided in other contexts, becomes part of the experience by helping to develop a different availability towards disturbing emotions and to learn new awareness on oneself. The risk inherent in the practice of certain activities obviously causes discomfort, perceived but not avoided, increasing the abilities of resilience and trust in one’s resources. This leads to developing greater tenacity in decision -making processes and an availability towards potentially anxious challenges and situations.
There is also a mental state of complete involvement with the present moment (Mindful), which we know be connected to a series of psychological benefits and that research tells us positively correlating with the practice of adventurous sports activities.
Another element not to be underestimated is the environment in which these activities are usually carried out. Whether it’s parachuting or kitesurfing, deltaplano or apnea one of the predominant elements is certainly the contact with “the open air”. We already know that contact with natural environments has extremely positive effects on mood and cognitive functions, but it also has on physical well -being and develops further resources when the sportsman finds himself having to face challenges that provide for the management of environmental elements.
Last but not least the interpersonal aspect. Often in high -risk sports, however there may be competition if it is about the race, the other is not seen as a challenger but often as an adventure companion with whom to cooperate to reduce the risks and enjoy the benefits of the activity. In a company that promotes more and more “safe” and physically unfortunate activities, where health often passes through the control of certain factors rather than for the experimentation of new challenges and explorations, extreme sports can therefore be an educational resource of approach to daily life.
Peter Clough, Susan Houge Mackenzie, Liz Mallabon, Eric Brymer. Adventurous Physical Activity Environments: A Mainstream Interventions For Mental Health Sports Med (2016) 46: 963–968
Brymer E., Schweitzer R. Extreme Sports Are Good for Your Health: A Phenomenological Undersanding of Fear and Anxiety in Extreme Sport. J Health Psychol. 2013 Apr; 18 (4): 477-87.
