Can Riding Thrill Rides Cure What Ails You?

[GavG]

I found this earlier and thought it was an interesting and also a positive take on thrill rides. There is a lot of references to the 'EdgeWalk' but I think it is still relevant across the board. Anyway have a read and enjoy.

Summer??????s the season for thrills, whether it??????s EdgeWalk, the Pacific National Exhibition??????s new Atmosfear, a revolving swing ride that spins riders at 70 km/h, 66 metres above the ground, or rides at New Jersey??????s Six Flags Great Adventure, home to the world??????s highest roller coaster, which has a peak of 139 metres and a top speed of 206 km/h. For some, this raises questions: Who in their right minds goes in for these sorts of attractions, and what are the medical effects of thrill-seeking behaviour?

Academia has a name for people drawn to these experiences: They??????re called sensation seekers, a group much more likely to get into trouble with risky activities or aggressive and addictive behaviours, such as those involving drugs and alcohol. Sensation seeking has been defined as the need for ??????varied, novel, complex and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal and financial risks for the sake of such experiences.??????

At the centre of it all is the brain??????s dopamine system, which is integral to the high experienced after the consumption of a drug such as cocaine, as well as the euphoria that follows something like EdgeWalk .

Last year, the academic journal Psychological Science caused a stir when it published a study linking sensation-seeking behaviour to mutations in genes that regulate dopamine activity. This excited researchers, since the ability to identify sensation seekers early would presumably make it easier to guide them away from drugs and alcohol. ??????Not everyone who??????s high on sensation seeking becomes a drug addict,?????? said the study??????s lead author, Jaime Derringer, a PhD candidate in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota. ??????They may become an Army Ranger or an artist. It??????s all in how you channel it.??????

The problem? Derringer??????s conclusions were later discredited by Australian researchers due to a step that was missed in the study??????s methodology. Meanwhile, other researchers are establishing that sensation seeking behaviour can change over time ?????? suggesting the trait isn??????t exclusively genetic, or even a biological personality trait. A longitudinal study published last year in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence followed 868 youths through grades six to eight. It ranked the kids according to the extent they sought sensation. The low and the high groups stayed stable, but the middle group of about 60% of study participants experienced significant changes in its sensation-seeking behaviour. My own experience bears out the changing nature of sensation seeking. Years ago, I??????d have been classified an adrenalin junkie. I skied off-piste on Mont Blanc, fell down a cliff at Whistler and deep-sea dove among shipwrecks. That old self might have considered doing EdgeWalk, but then I matured and became a father.

Perhaps I??????m missing out. Medical professionals knew such rides elevated heart rates. But some of us may not have suspected the extent of the elevation until researchers wrote in 2007 about a fascinating study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They wired up riders of Germany??????s Expedition GeForce roller coaster with portable electrocardiogram sets. Although the GeForce has a relatively paltry top speed of 120 km/h, heart rates increased from a before-ride average of 89 beats per minute to an intra-ride peak of 155 beats per minute. The fascinating thing? The largest increase happened before that first initial drop, when, researchers wrote, ??????speed was low and there were no significant acceleration forces, suggesting a contributing role of emotional stress.?????? In other words, the part of the ride that most elevated heart rates wasn??????t the scary drop, but the anticipation of the scary drop.

So, there??????s a reason for all those warnings suggesting that pregnant women and those with heart conditions avoid thrill rides. Sudden jolts of a ??????fight or flight response?????? may be hard on some. But if you make it through the experience, a thrill ride can actually have some beneficial effects. The winner of last year??????s tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel Prize for medicine was a Dutch study that took 25 female sufferers of severe asthma on a series of roller coaster rides. Researchers discovered the asthmatic shortness of breath known as dyspnea tended to be lower in the women amid the euphoria that followed the roller coaster rides. Other types of thrill rides could have similar effects. In that way, it??????s similar to sports or exercise ?????? short-term stress that helps you relax in the long run.

I??????m not suggesting a 65-year-old couch potato should sign up for EdgeWalk. Thrill rides like roller coasters have been linked to heart and neurological events in those who are predisposed. But for those of us who are active and in good shape, something like EdgeWalk may be just the right dose of positive stress. Plus there??????s that view of Toronto. Go for it!
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im not reading all that

but the short of it is yes thrill rides are good for you

No, they don't.

Coasters help me to cure my acrophobia.Yes I have a small acrophobia.

Good Oxymoron. I know coasters do relieve stress though.

I'm terrified of heights but no tall roller coasters have ever frightened me. I trust them pretty fully.

And I'm not sure. I actually once had a terrible migraine, and although I assumed Excalibur would not do it much good, I rode it just because I won't live with myself if I ever passed up the chance to. Seemed to have beat the poop out that migraine hahaha.

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From the article, I think maybe it can help some ailments, sure, but I bet 9 out of 10 times it would probably do more bad than good to people who aren't fully suitable to ride them.

[gouldy]

^ similarly, I suffer badly with Vertigo and a fairly extreme fear of heights, yet this story is not true when it comes to coasters. I hate balconies on houses or high rise buildings, I can't go near them for fear of falling off, or even look down for fear of feeling dizzy and yet this is only at a height of 15ft+, which obviously goes against the fact that I have ridden coasters of over 100ft, 200ft, 300ft, 400ft without any of the above problems whatsoever. I can't personally explain this, other than to say that being fixed into the restraint system on a coaster must provide a greater sense of phyiscal security than standing on a balcony does...


But back to the question posed; There are definitely health benefits from riding coasters. It's very important to the health of your heart that you should "scare" yourself at least once a day, or get your pulse racing for reasons other than physical excersise. This is of course acheived by going on roller coasters and flat rides.

It's good for mental health and subsequently physical health that you enjoy yourself. Again, of course, this is something that riding coasters acheived by riding!