There are people who love to feel adrenaline and who constantly feel a real danger. Therefore, there are extreme sports. It is a type of sport that presents a real or apparent danger to the physical integrity of those who practice it. Some of them are life-threatening. They can be both sports carried out in difficult or extreme conditions or some activities whose risks cannot be totally controlled by the fact of having a good technical or physical preparation.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about extreme sports and their characteristics.
What are extreme sports
It is a type of sport that can be performed in extreme conditions or that a good physical or technical preparation does not prepare you or inhibits you from risk. One of the elements that can define extreme sports It is the search for adrenaline injections by the athlete.
This set of sports are synonymous with creativity, passion and experimentation. There are many people who are looking for new emotions and the more difficult the challenge, the more attractive. This generation of adrenaline is not achieved with the practice of other more common sports. However, just as it is synonymous with creativity, it is also synonymous with risk to health or physical integrity. Sometimes it can be life-threatening. Among the conditions that define it as extreme sports practice we have some more frequent elements. One of them is speed and the other is altitude. This does not mean that they are the only characteristics that define it.
The list of extreme sports is endless. Some of the classics by which it is usually identified are usually those that seem a real madness instead of a sport. The truth is that these sports can be practiced on land, ice or snow and riding mountain bikes, skiing. You can also go by unspoiled unexplored sites of high mountains, canyoning or canyoning, free climbing, mountaineering, parkour, etc.
Some examples can also be exceptional jumping, extreme boxing, excessive wave surfing, free flight with wings, skydiving from a building or airplane, bungee jumping and many more. As we have mentioned before, in all these risk sports, the reason for their practice is mainly the search for emotions, this factor being more attractive. In these types of sports, physical preparation may not be of vital importance. However, it is not the only thing that attracts.
Attractiveness of extreme sports
Undoubtedly behind these sports there is a gene that makes us seek our limits or a clumsy need to differentiate ourselves. There are many people who want to overcome themselves or overcome certain fears. These sports serve to achieve these objectives and every year new variants of these sports emerge.
Although it sounds attractive to many people, we must know if everyone can do them. Obviously, this answer is easy to answer: no. All people can perform in risk sports since physical and mental preparations are required, accompanied by years of training in a discipline and progressing level of difficulty.
These requirements go far beyond the classic medical check-up to know our state of health. However, this check-up is necessary if we want to be overweight or have a heart disease, due to the intense adrenaline and emotional charge they have. Many people have well-known physical problems such as spinal, limb, or hypertension. Those with cardiovascular risks should not practice risk sports.
For other risky activities, you don't need to be very prepared, just jump into doing them. In this case, we have bungee jumping and rafting, among others. Although many of them require a high level of strength, endurance and dexterity, it is not enough to eliminate the danger that this poses. And it is that over the years this type of sports has reached the cemeteries of many wasted lives.
The interpretation of risk sports can be done freely, just as there are any other type of sport.
Why do you like these sports
Beyond adrenaline or the feeling of well-being, there is a science behind that seeks the reason why these extreme sports attract so much. We know that the OPRL1 gene is in charge of regulating fear and post-traumatic stress. Therefore, we can scientifically explain why some individuals have a greater predisposition to find limits or do not seem to be impressed by traumatic episodes. For example, we have found professionals like Fernando Alonso to compete again weeks after having nearly died in a competition.
Other people are more likely to develop psychiatric illness with any traumatic episode.
Recommendations
We are going to give some recommendations of risk sports that can be recommended for those people who want to be seen to do them for the first time. We know that extreme sports involve impulses or attractions that are difficult to regulate by ourselves. If we decide to do some of these sports, it is best to start practicing with experienced professionals. These professionals can help us advise us on the practices and the technique to be followed during the exercise. What's more, They will be able to determine if we are acts or not for the practice of this sport. And it is not only valid with the will, but it must also be adjusted to our physical conditions and our expectations.
The difference between enjoying this sport and ending our life prematurely can be marked by years of physical and technical preparation. Some of the most recommended sports are ultra-distance races, ultratrails, vertical km, triathlon, crossings, ironman, ultraman, etc. We know that they represent another step in that continuous search for emotions and the need to differentiate yourself from others.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about risk sports and their characteristics.