Adrenaline junkie or couch potato?
ADRENALINE junkies give leisure a bad name, said a colleague last week, and I had to smile wryly, as while I have known, and seen hundreds, I’ve rarely felt the need to become one. Taking part in exciting, intense, and dangerous activities is not for me, being more ‘into,’ the sedentary activities of reading, writing, and watching sports, and rather than feeling any compunction at not being intense or dangerous, I almost proudly see myself as a fully committed couch potato, for whom a walk on the wild side is to eat my usual bog standard ‘Ready-salted’ potato crisps, instead of some ‘you never know what’s in them’ varieties like ‘Jalapeno and Dill,’ or ‘Seafood Chilli and Lime.’ I’m not ready for such absurdity!
The best things about me in this, my couch potato phase, according to my long-suffering wife, are first that I usually do the outstanding ‘jobs around the house’ done, so I can’t be dragged away from my sports watching later in the day, and second, that she always knows where I am when the All Blacks, Black Ferns, or Highlanders, are playing rugby, the NZ7S are playing, the All Whites or Newcastle United are playing football, the Black Caps are playing cricket, sailing, like the America’s Cup or Sail GP, when Horseracing, Indycar, or Formula 1 are on, or there is a good golf tournament on. And, of course, new James Bond movies, old John Wayne movies, historical dramas like Shogun, but none of those Academy Award winning movies… they tend to be long, woke, and mindnumbingly boring!
My couch potato experience is an emotional roller-coaster, as I live vicariously through the deeds of ‘my combatants.’ Not for a minute do I suggest that I have any form of ownership of ‘my’ teams, but almost exactly the opposite… they own me! But I love it! Feet up in the lounge, on my favourite part of the sofa, with crisps and some, salami or meat cold cuts, something to drink, and even with adverts regularly punctuating the experience, I find it so incredibly easy to put in a solid shift of up to 6 hours of wall-to-wall sports. Considering I can’t usually concentrate for five minutes… it’s a miracle of fish and loaves proportions!
But anyway, the other side of the coin is the adrenaline junkie. Now whether it’s bungy-jumping, parachuting, mountaineering, white-water rafting, wing-walking, storm-chasing, ziplining, or anything in between, the adrenaline rush must be something! I mean, get it wrong and you could die! Makrowski, Makrowski, and Kaminski (2016), produced research saying that parachutists and rock climbers are not only intense, but are driven by that closeness between life and death, and their psychological sense of sensation or stimulation, is directly related to motivation, with the most highly motivated craving the ‘rush’ like an addict does a drug.
Apparently, the neurobiological processes are so incredibly complex, with psychological and physiological factors seriously influenced by dopamine and serotonin deficiencies. This, according to Dr Elizabeth Scott, creates a thirst for heightened impulsivity, intolerance of risk, a need for the dramatic, basically, a need to invent crises, to implement what has been called the ‘warrior gene,’ because it’s not enough to see something dangerous, but to feel highly motivated to do something about it!
I know. Some of you are looking at this trying to figure out if you are a potential ‘adrenaline junkie.’ Well maybe, as I’ve learned that some of you just can’t do without a rush, but have no wish to endanger yourselves! While ‘thrill-seekers’ rarely consider the consequences and can be a danger to themselves. Some are just bored, and others compulsive, doing stuff without thinking. Others seek an escape from the pressures they are under, and a game of squash or a swim just won’t do it for them anymore. Occasionally it’s not genuine, but the result of peer pressure, and being ‘bullied’ into it, while being desperate for peer approval or selfesteem can see one feeling like they have no other option. I really like Bert Kreischer, though, saying, “If there’s an adrenaline rush I’ll find it. If there’s an anxiety attack, I’ll find that too.”
Anyway, I’ve gotta go, the Indy500 is on, and it’s as much excitement as my ticker can handle…
BUT ANYWAY, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN IS THE ADRENALINE JUNKIE