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Some of the most fun sports to participate in are also among the most dangerous.

For example, rock climbing has steadily grown in popularity over the years in spite of the fact that one wrong move can be deadly.

Even so, you're more likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than you are participating in one of these.

Unless that is, you don't know what you're doing!

Here is an interesting infographic with the world's top ten most dangerous sports.

Although I must admit, I'm surprised to see that Extreme Ironing isn't on this list!

The World's Most Dangerous Sports

It can be so thrilling to do these dangerous sports.

The feeling of adrenaline rushing through your veins is just something you can't forget.

But remember, ensure you are prepared and have all the gear to be safe!

Would you ever dare to do these dangerous sports in the future?

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The World's Most Dangerous Sports InfoGraphic - The Fact Site

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Some of the most fun sports to participate in are also among the most dangerous. For example, rock climbing has steadily grown in popularity over the years in spite of the fact that one wrong move can be deadly. Even so, you're more likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than you are participating in one of these.

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The unique psychology of extreme endurance athletes - BBC REEL

What is the appeal of extreme endurance sport and why do people do it? With expert insight from sports psychologists, we look at the physical and psychological effects of why people push themselves to the limits of human capability. Video by Sam Padget Commissioning Editor: Griesham Taan With thanks to St Mary's University London, Kings Swimmers & Borja Mucientes - - - - - Subscribe to BBC Reel: https://www.youtube.com/c/bbcreel?sub_confirmation=1 More videos: https://www.bbc.com/reel #bbc #bbcreel #bbcnews #sports #health #psychology

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The unique psychology of extreme endurance... - SafeShare

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What is the appeal of extreme endurance sport and why do people do it? With expert insight from sports psychologists, we look at the physical and psychological effects of why people push themselves to the limits of human capability.

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Psychology & Extreme Sport: Risk Taking in... - SafeShare

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Learn about psychology in extreme sport and the nature of risk taking in high risk settings. If you are interested and you would like to know more about psychology in the World’s most demanding environments you can join our learning community at inextremis.teachable.com.

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Why Are We Addicted To Extreme Sports?

Extreme sports seem to be on the rise across the globe. Why do these individuals risk their lives for a thrill? Read More: Too Much Exercise Can Be Bad for the Heart http://www.livescience.com/36425-extreme-endurance-exercise-heart-problems.html "Exercise is generally great for health, but extreme forms of it may be bad for the heart in some cases, experts say." Extreme sports are more popular than ever, prompting questions about legal liability http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/extreme_sports_are_more_popular_than_ever_promp8ting_questions/ "Last year in West Virginia, 28-year-old Avishek Sengupta was running the Tough Mudder, a grueling 10-plus-mile race littered with merciless obstacles that take participants over blazing pits of fire, through dark trenches and into pools of water laced with electrical wires that deliver 10,000 volts." ____________________ DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives

Launched as a beta version in 2009, SafeShare has gained popularity as the safest way to watch and share YouTube and Vimeo videos, and is widely used all around the globe by educators so their students can watch educational material without the fear of inappropriate videos showing up.

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Why Are We Addicted To Extreme Sports?... - SafeShare

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Extreme sports seem to be on the rise across the globe. Why do these individuals risk their lives for a thrill? Read More: Too Much Exercise Can Be Bad for the Heart http://www.livescience.com/36425-extreme-endurance-exercise-heart-problems.html "Exercise is generally great for health, but extreme forms of it may be bad for the heart in some cases, experts say."

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Tony Hawk on the Dangers of Extreme Sports

Tony Hawk talks about the evolution of the X Games and the commitment of the athletes that participate. If you liked this video, there's a lot more where it came from. This is a small excerpt from a much longer conversation that you can watch right here: http://offcamera.com/issues/tony-hawk/watch/#.Vz5NO1dvkZI Get the Tony Hawk issue of the magazine HERE: http://shop.offcamera.com/products/off-camera-issue-005-tony-hawk Want more Off Camera? http://offcamera.com The Off Camera Show is the YouTube channel for Off Camera with Sam Jones. Subscribe now to be updated on the latest videos: http://bit.ly/1K3VAC9 For full Off Camera episodes, visit http://offcamera.com Get Social With Us: On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoffcamerashow?ref=hl On Twitter: https://twitter.com/OffCameraShow On Instagram: https://instagram.com/offcamerashow/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theoffcamerashow Follow Sam Jones on Twitter: https://twitter.com/samjones

Launched as a beta version in 2009, SafeShare has gained popularity as the safest way to watch and share YouTube and Vimeo videos, and is widely used all around the globe by educators so their students can watch educational material without the fear of inappropriate videos showing up.

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Tony Hawk on the Dangers of Extreme Sports... - SafeShare

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Tony Hawk talks about the evolution of the X Games and the commitment of the athletes that participate. If you liked this video, there's a lot more where it came from. This is a small excerpt from a much longer conversation that you can watch right here: http://offcamera.com/issues/tony-hawk/watch/#.Vz5NO1dvkZI Get the Tony Hawk issue of the magazine HERE: http://shop.offcamera.com/products/off-camera-issue-005-tony-hawk Want more Off Camera?

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During the San Francisco X Games, MomsTeam talked to moms of some of the top athletes, who shared their experiences in the world of "extreme" sports and advice on what other parents should know to help them decide if these sports are right for their child.

A Generation Gap?

If you don't know much about the new sports that have kids across the country jumping, spinning and riding every chance they get, relax! You are not alone. Despite having moved into mainstream culture, they are still very generational, with most parents knowing only what they learn from their kids. As a result, parents usually have lots of questions, like: Are these sports safe? Where do I take my kids to learn? How do I buy the proper equipment? Can you really make a living as an extreme athlete and how do I know if my child is good enough to compete?

Some of what moms told us was not surprising, including the very real risk of injuries. Every parent had a story about stitches or broken bones, but, as they pointed out, so does the parent of a football or soccer player. On the other hand, we were surprised when moms told us about how close many had become to their teenagers as a result of their support and involvement in their child's choice of a non-traditional sport. Both the mothers and the athletes helped explain why many kids are drawn "alternative" sports instead of more traditional sports.

Family Support is Key

The mothers we spoke with, all who have children competing at these X Games, had to make tough decisions and sacrifices to help their kids reach this level of competition. In some cases they travel the country with their child to attend competitions, spending considerable time away from the rest of the family. The moms confess to having had concerns when their kids first began these sports about the possibility of injuries. And many of them had little knowledge, let along first hand experience, about sports like skateboarding or in-line skating. But once it became clear to them that this was what their child loved doing and that they had the talent, they committed themselves and their time to helping their children fulfill their dreams.

Debby Pastrana is the mother of 16-year-old Moto X freestyle phenom and gold medallist in the 1999 and 2000 X Games, Travis Pastrana. In this, one of the most dangerous sports at the X Games, where riders fly 35 feet in the air and perform extremely difficult tricks on a motorcycle, Debby has had to face her fears as a parent and rise above them to support her son's dream. "Its hard, it's very hard. Travis has broken over 20 bones and been in a wheelchair for two and half months when they weren't sure if he would be paralyzed. It was the hardest thing as a parent, but you see your kid who tries and it's in their heart. As a parent, if you see this in your child, you have to support it. You have to. And if you don't support them then lots of things are going to be worse. Because then they feel the friction of that and don't want to go against you. We are in it 100%, I've been with him every step of the way. When he's hurt and in rehab, he never complains, and that's when you know [that he's committed]," explained Pastrana.

On the other hand, some parents still don't see extreme sports as real athletic competition and, as a result, don't respect the path their child has chosen. One parent, who didn't want to give her name, shared with us how a lack of support can really harm a parent/child relationship. While both parents have decided to support their child's decision to become a professional bike stunt rider, one parent continues to belittle the sport and has yet to attend any competitions. This has caused a lot of pain for their child and has seriously strained family relationships.

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Getting Involved In "Extreme Sports": Advice From Parents Of Top Extreme Athletes

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During the San Francisco X Games, MomsTeam talked to moms of some of the top athletes, who shared their experiences in the world of "extreme" sports and advice on what other parents should know to help them decide if these sports are

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Much of the chatter during Sunday's Super Bowl will undoubtedly be about how the rhetoric is heating up over long-term head injuries in football. But Coloradans needn't look any further than our own backyard mountains for discussion on a similarly dangerous development.

Snowmobiler Caleb Moore died Thursday from injuries to his heart and brain after a violent crash during last weekend's Winter X Games in Aspen in which his 450-pound snowmobile landed on top of him during a competition.

Just hours before his accident, Moore told The Denver Post that his snowmobiling career was launched "after barely a month of practice."

As a trend, most snow sports for amateurs have ostensibly gotten safer over the last decade, with helmet use up over 171 percent and 67 percent of skiers and snowboarders opting to protect their heads, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Despite that, serious injuries on the slopes have increased while the number of annual skier days has decreased by more than 6 million.

While the NSAA cites just a one in a million chance of incurring a serious injury on the slopes, the movement on the mountains is still to be better, higher, faster and more daring and treacherous recreationally, in competition, in the backcountry - and perhaps with less experience - than ever before.

There were 54 in-bounds skiing and snowboarding fatalities nationwide in the 2011-12 season, plus 51 serious injuries. In the 2002-03 season, there were 37 fatalities and 33 serious injuries.

Chris Nowinski, a former WWE wrestler and founding executive director of the nonprofit Sports Legacy Institute, which aims to advance the study, treatment, and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes, says while safety is the purpose of helmets, they actually encourage risk-taking behavior "because they can limit immediate consequences like pain and lacerations."

The International Ski Federation has made significant changes in equipment rules in order to make the sport safer for professionals, but while athletes are competing at the same venues as past generations with more secure measures in place, the risks are still larger as the push in competition is to go bigger. The 100 miles per hour World Cup downhill ski barrier was broken for the first time during the Wengen downhill in Switzerland last month, for one. And Powder magazine recently questioned the future of women's slopestyle after most of the U.S. team was sidelined with injuries like concussions and a torn ACL at last year's U.S. Grand Prix.

Über-snowboarder and two-time Olympic gold medalist in the halfpipe, Shaun White is roundly praised as a showman with tremendously intricate skills, although he also has the benefit of sponsors to pay for a state-of-the-art, incredibly safe practice facility. In a 2010 "60 Minutes" profile, he gave a tour of his training camp, which includes a foam pit and 500-foot super pipe in the San Juan Mountains, which was built expressly for him by a sponsor and only accessible by helicopter. Most other athletes might have the benefit of safer equipment, but they still don't have that kind of entrée to such protective care.

Access to safer equipment also tends to make more casual snow riders feel perhaps prematurely qualified to attempt to emulate their professional icons. The popularity of events like the Winter X Games in Aspen, Burton Open in Vail and the Dew Tour in Breckenridge and extreme athletes like Tanner Hall help contribute to a precarious culture that some argue is getting out of hand.

Ted Mahon, a career skier who has skied all of Colorado's fourteeners as well as climbed Mount Everest, said that while in all sports there is a progression wherein prior generations try to build on the accomplishments of their predecessors, "in the case of skiing, the progression has gotten to a point where to move forward to the next level, the margin of error has grown very thin."

He also believes that much of the field at events such as the X Games is just too young to understand the gravity of their attempts towards X gold.

"If you're 16 and they dangle prize money, sponsorships and the chance to star in a Red Bull video, it's no wonder the kids want to do it," Mahon said.

Gadgets like GoPros, the helmet cameras that Men's Fitness magazine praises as "just the device to capture whatever it is that gets your adrenaline pumping" aid and abet tweens and adolescents who try imitating the extraordinary tricks they see in competitions and commercials in an effort to impress their actual and social-media friends - while in terrain parks. Without age minimums and extra monitoring from ski patrol in the parks, the chance of injury is great.

Still, two-time extreme skiing world champion Chris Davenport commends the ski industry as a whole, including the resorts, for trying to make the sport safer and thinks families who ski recreationally aren't doing it much different today than, say, 20 years ago. Yet he agrees there's an alarming inclination on the professional side to push the envelope to near-fatal extremes.

"You have to do the new trick, go bigger in the pipe, flip the snowmobile - this is what keeps franchises like the X Games going. Otherwise it wouldn't be as interesting."

Mahon agrees, and believes to an extent that contenders like Moore are just answering the demand of the crowds - and likely ESPN.

"People watch snowmobiling because they know there's going to be a crash. It's not such an interesting event," Mahon said. "It's actually kind of silly. Everyone's just waiting for the wipeout."

Nowinski believes the biggest concern with events like the X Games is that there's no one setting limits to the risks athletes can take.

"If the sport's leadership doesn't have a firm hand in telling athletes not to kill themselves and to take reasonable risks instead, there's no limit to how much damage they can do to themselves," Nowinski said.

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell is attempting to make that league safer after a highly publicized spate of head injuries and suicides, even if some players and fans don't necessarily appreciate the increased number of fines and flags for hits that referees deem dangerous.

Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard told CBSSports.com that while he thinks Goodell is killing the league, he still worries "there's going to be a death on the field one day because of the direction we're taking." Ultimately, he said he agrees that something has to be done about player safety.

Tanner Hall last year told HBO's "Real Sports" that "a lot of the consequences can be death because that's just where the progression of skiing is going," but he wasn't on the same page as Pollard about whether he thought that any kind of intervention was in order.

"The answer is to keep going," Hall said.

Whether the prize is the highest ratings on ESPN, the most lucrative energy drink endorsement deal or the best amateur GoPro video to share on Facebook on Twitter, one thing is clear: Few appear to be interested in applying the brakes.
Meredith C. Carroll of Aspen writes a weekly column in The Denver Post. Contact her at meredithccarroll@hotmail.com or on Twitter @mccarroll.

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M. Carroll: Extreme sports: Higher, faster and more treacherous

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M. Carroll: Extreme sports: Higher, faster and more treacherous

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The Extreme Sports Addiction [Infographic]

"The more fearful a certain sport makes you, the greater the release of chemicals. The greater the release of these chemicals, the greater the addiction-like symptoms." -Dr. Marvin Zuckerman, Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware CHASING THE HIGH WHAT IS THE E TREME SPORTS ADDICTION? What is it that drives risk-takers to pursue dangerous situations willingly and repeatedly? Who are they and what makes them keep going back for more? Does this "addiction factor" contribute to the advancement of action sports as well? Krush takes you behind the scenes of the extreme sports addiction to give you some answers! WHAT ARE THEY ADDICTED TO? THE ADRENALINE RUSH Adrenaline, aka Epinephrine A hormone released from the adrenal gland in the body when faced with stressful or dangerous situations (fight or flight response), elevating your heart rate and giving you a boost of energy and alertness. It can give people a sense of superhuman strength, HO speed, and other abilities that allow them to respond to traumatic situations. OH но The release of adrenaline (the adrenaline rush) stimulates the brain's reward system, triggering the release of dopamine... THE REWARDING BUZZ Dopamine A chemical in the brain that is responsible for the "high" or euphoric feeling you experience when you overcome danger or perceived extreme risk. When dopamine is HO released it provides feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. Chronic risk-takers or extreme sports enthusiasts tend to have a higher saturation of dopamine in the brain. HO DOPAMINE LEVEL IN RISK-TAKERS VS. NON RISK-TAKERS Normal Level Risk-taker -the amount of dopamine released in the brain due to a rewarding experience + "In high novelty-seeking individuals, the brain is less able to regulate dopamine [thus releasing a greater amount], and this may lead these individuals to be particularly responsive to novel and rewarding situations that normally induce dopamine release." -Dr. David H. Zald, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University THE EUPHORIC FEELING DOPAMINE GIVES EXTREME SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS WHEN IT FLOODS THE BLOODSTREAM WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE ? "TYPE I" 10-15% | * Type T (for thrill-seeking) personality types of the population are classified as Type T. can be described as "risk-takers and adventurers who seek excitement and stimulation wherever they can find or create it." (Psychologist Frank Farley) * These types of people tend to seek out unique experiences, the theory being that they need to stimulate low dopamine levels. Sensation-seeking trait is about bU% genetic THE DANGEROUS SIDE OF TYPE T PERSONALITIES DRUG ABUSE ALCOHOL ABUSE GAMBLING Using stimulating drugs such as amphetamines or cocaine synthetically raises the amount of dopamine in the brain, producing a short-lived artificial high. EXTREME SPORTS ADDICTION LEADS TO PROGRESSION THE ENDLESS PURSUIT... * Sensation seekers can become addicted to the "high" they get from the adrenaline and dopamine rush. This addiction drives them to chase the next high repeatedly. * Tolerance builds as the body gets used to the same rush over and over, which is why extreme sports athletes are constantly pushing the envelope and upping the ante. "You need risk to trigger reward and the body gets used to risk. In other words, just like drug addicts who need to take more and more of a substance to get back to the level of high they desire, action sports addicts need to up their danger quotient to achieve the same effect." -Dr. Greg Berns, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neuroeconomics at Emory University THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT BIG THING, THE NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE TRICK, IS WHAT DRIVES THE CONSTANT PROGRESSION OF EXTREME SPORTS A FEW EXAMPLES... THEN NOW fmx 2X WHAT'S NEXT Ist Backflip Double Backflip 2006 2002 skydiving WIHAT'S NEXT Became a sport BASE Jumping Wing Suit Flying 128,000 ft. jump mid-1950's 2012 snowhoarding Double Alley-Oop Rodeo & Double McTwist 1260 2012 McTwists & 1080's 720's & 900's 1998 2005 3.5x SPINS 2x FLIPS WHAT'S NEXT 15 IL 11.5 t HALFPIPE WALL HEIGHTS HALFPIPE TRICKS & AIR HEIGHT WITH EXTREME SPORTS ATHLETES CONTINUING TO CHASE THE ELUSIVE HIGH AND PUSH THE BOUNDARIES, IT'S NO WONDER WE VE SEEN THE TRICKS BECOME INSANELY MORE TECHNICAL AND THE LEVEL OF RISK RAPIDLY INCREASING. WE CAN ONLY WONDER, WHERE WILL THE EXTREME SPORTS ADDICTION TAKE US NEXT? SOURCES KRUSH K http://www.jneurosci.org http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7802751.stm https://dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=23620 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2748420/pdf/nihms85634.pdf https://dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=23620 http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-177868123/action-sports-participation-consumer.html http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1869106,00.html?iref=werecommend?id=perma_share http://www.livestrong.com/article/532699-dopamine-sports/ http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2008/12/risk-takers-drug-abusers-driven-by-decreased-ability-to-process-dopamine-69546/ -seekers-chasing-a-craving/ w.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-playing-field/200803/the-addicitve-nature-adrenaline-sport .ca/2012/01/thrill- http://www. http://www. http://www.summitpost.org/living-on-the-edge-extreme-sports-and-their-role-in-society/214107 http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13126284 http://www.springerlink.com/content/j7578873352trx0g/ http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/extreme-sports-whats-appeal?page=2 .charlatan. "The more fearful a certain sport makes you, the greater the release of chemicals. The greater the release of these chemicals, the greater the addiction-like symptoms." -Dr. Marvin Zuckerman, Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware CHASING THE HIGH WHAT IS THE E TREME SPORTS ADDICTION? What is it that drives risk-takers to pursue dangerous situations willingly and repeatedly? Who are they and what makes them keep going back for more? Does this "addiction factor" contribute to the advancement of action sports as well? Krush takes you behind the scenes of the extreme sports addiction to give you some answers! WHAT ARE THEY ADDICTED TO? THE ADRENALINE RUSH Adrenaline, aka Epinephrine A hormone released from the adrenal gland in the body when faced with stressful or dangerous situations (fight or flight response), elevating your heart rate and giving you a boost of energy and alertness. It can give people a sense of superhuman strength, HO speed, and other abilities that allow them to respond to traumatic situations. OH но The release of adrenaline (the adrenaline rush) stimulates the brain's reward system, triggering the release of dopamine... THE REWARDING BUZZ Dopamine A chemical in the brain that is responsible for the "high" or euphoric feeling you experience when you overcome danger or perceived extreme risk. When dopamine is HO released it provides feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. Chronic risk-takers or extreme sports enthusiasts tend to have a higher saturation of dopamine in the brain. HO DOPAMINE LEVEL IN RISK-TAKERS VS. NON RISK-TAKERS Normal Level Risk-taker -the amount of dopamine released in the brain due to a rewarding experience + "In high novelty-seeking individuals, the brain is less able to regulate dopamine [thus releasing a greater amount], and this may lead these individuals to be particularly responsive to novel and rewarding situations that normally induce dopamine release." -Dr. David H. Zald, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University THE EUPHORIC FEELING DOPAMINE GIVES EXTREME SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS WHEN IT FLOODS THE BLOODSTREAM WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE ? "TYPE I" 10-15% | * Type T (for thrill-seeking) personality types of the population are classified as Type T. can be described as "risk-takers and adventurers who seek excitement and stimulation wherever they can find or create it." (Psychologist Frank Farley) * These types of people tend to seek out unique experiences, the theory being that they need to stimulate low dopamine levels. Sensation-seeking trait is about bU% genetic THE DANGEROUS SIDE OF TYPE T PERSONALITIES DRUG ABUSE ALCOHOL ABUSE GAMBLING Using stimulating drugs such as amphetamines or cocaine synthetically raises the amount of dopamine in the brain, producing a short-lived artificial high. EXTREME SPORTS ADDICTION LEADS TO PROGRESSION THE ENDLESS PURSUIT... * Sensation seekers can become addicted to the "high" they get from the adrenaline and dopamine rush. This addiction drives them to chase the next high repeatedly. * Tolerance builds as the body gets used to the same rush over and over, which is why extreme sports athletes are constantly pushing the envelope and upping the ante. "You need risk to trigger reward and the body gets used to risk. In other words, just like drug addicts who need to take more and more of a substance to get back to the level of high they desire, action sports addicts need to up their danger quotient to achieve the same effect." -Dr. Greg Berns, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neuroeconomics at Emory University THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT BIG THING, THE NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE TRICK, IS WHAT DRIVES THE CONSTANT PROGRESSION OF EXTREME SPORTS A FEW EXAMPLES... THEN NOW fmx 2X WHAT'S NEXT Ist Backflip Double Backflip 2006 2002 skydiving WIHAT'S NEXT Became a sport BASE Jumping Wing Suit Flying 128,000 ft. jump mid-1950's 2012 snowhoarding Double Alley-Oop Rodeo & Double McTwist 1260 2012 McTwists & 1080's 720's & 900's 1998 2005 3.5x SPINS 2x FLIPS WHAT'S NEXT 15 IL 11.5 t HALFPIPE WALL HEIGHTS HALFPIPE TRICKS & AIR HEIGHT WITH EXTREME SPORTS ATHLETES CONTINUING TO CHASE THE ELUSIVE HIGH AND PUSH THE BOUNDARIES, IT'S NO WONDER WE VE SEEN THE TRICKS BECOME INSANELY MORE TECHNICAL AND THE LEVEL OF RISK RAPIDLY INCREASING. WE CAN ONLY WONDER, WHERE WILL THE EXTREME SPORTS ADDICTION TAKE US NEXT? SOURCES KRUSH K http://www.jneurosci.org http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7802751.stm https://dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=23620 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2748420/pdf/nihms85634.pdf https://dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=23620 http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-177868123/action-sports-participation-consumer.html http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1869106,00.html?iref=werecommend?id=perma_share http://www.livestrong.com/article/532699-dopamine-sports/ http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2008/12/risk-takers-drug-abusers-driven-by-decreased-ability-to-process-dopamine-69546/ -seekers-chasing-a-craving/ w.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-playing-field/200803/the-addicitve-nature-adrenaline-sport .ca/2012/01/thrill- http://www. http://www. http://www.summitpost.org/living-on-the-edge-extreme-sports-and-their-role-in-society/214107 http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13126284 http://www.springerlink.com/content/j7578873352trx0g/ http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/extreme-sports-whats-appeal?page=2 .charlatan.

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The Extreme Sports Addiction [Infographic]

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"The more fearful a certain sport makes you, the greater the release of chemicals. The greater the release of these chemicals, the greater the addiction-like symptoms." -Dr. Marvin Zuckerman, Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware CHASING THE HIGH WHAT IS THE E TREME SPORTS ADDICTION?

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Part 5: Children ride bulls, drive monster trucks with parents' encouragement.

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Overconfidence and a lack of training and a habit of not wearing safety gear, especially helmets, help cause more than 40,000 head and neck injuries nationally a year in sports like skateboarding.

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They do it because they have to. They need the feeling of exertion, that head rush of air and attitude. They want what Warren Shouldice knows is hard to explain unless you flip head over skis, knees over board, and kick snow in the face of danger.

That's what drew Shouldice to freestyle aerials and helped him become a world champion after he had broken his neck and compressed his back. It's what powered the late Sarah Burke to four Winter X Games championships and made her a success in the superpipe, skiing's answer to snowboarding's half-pipe.

"It's almost no fun doing it if there's no risk involved," said Shouldice, a 12-time World Cup medalist in a daredevil game. "The trick is making it a manageable risk."

When Burke died Thursday, nine days after falling during a training run in Park City, Utah, it saddened a nation and a sporting community world-wide. Burke was 29 and happily prepping for her sport's inclusion in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She had been injured many times before - a broken back, a torn shoulder - but nothing could dampen her love of skiing and the need to push herself to the brink of manageable risk and beyond.

Such is the appeal of many established and extreme sports, both for participants and spectators. The risks and rewards provide the thrills. Alpine skiing, particularly the ultra-fast downhill, has been a major attraction for decades. But the advent of the X Games upped the adrenalin quotient considerably.

The Games were the brainchild of ESPN producer Ron Semiao. In 1993, Semiao was looking for programming to fill the cable channel's fledgling ESPN2. He spotted a series of oddball sports that seemed to have a culture all their own and suggested to his bosses that ESPN create a made-for-TV sporting event. Two years later ESPN launched the first Extreme Games, a week-long competition that featured bungee jumping, mountain biking, skateboarding and street luge. Ratings weren't great and some critics panned the spectacle as "moronic." But ESPN stuck with it and made the games an annual event, later adding a second winter sports program. It also changed the name to X Games.

The popularity of the X Games took off and today they rival the Olympics in some respects. The X Games pull in more than 100,000 spectators and draw a television audience of around 44 million. They have also attracted major sponsors such as Ford, BF Goodrich, Sony and athletes such as Shaun White make up to $8-million annually in sponsorship deals.

The X Games are so popular, ESPN has announced plans to expand from two annual events to six, three summer and three winter. Bids from potential host cities have been flooding in, including one from Whistler B.C., which sees the X Games as a complement to the 2010 Olympics. Meanwhile rival network NBC has started a competing series called Dew Tour with PepsiCo and the Olympics have taken up some X Games sports, including Burke's specialty halfpipe skiing, which will be in the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The X Games "have gone viral," says Lee Berke, who runs consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media Inc. in New York. "It's very grassroots in its appeal." Berke added that the X Games have won over major sponsors because the viewing audience is so young, largely 18-34, which means many have yet to form brand loyalties.

But at the root of it all is the question: why? Why do athletes gamble with their lives by doing something so inherently dangerous? Like flying upside down off a 22-foot snow wall or skiing from ridiculous heights?

Asit Rathod has a wonderful life. He's single, active, works at a sales job in Portland, Ore. But as often as he can, he climbs to the top of Mt. Hood and skis off a cliff with a parachute on his back. He's done it many times and is now eyeing bigger verticals - Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest.

Ask him why he does it and Rathod's passion runs wild.

"People always say, 'Why do you feel the need to risk your life?' It's about the power of adventure. In day-to-day life, adventure has been ripped from us in the way we drive, the way we eat. You get to that place where you have to have that adventure," he said. "The risk is always the excitement."

Rathod was a good friend of Shane McConkey, who died in 2009 when he skied off a cliff in Italy and his chute failed to open. Over the past four years, Rathod has lost "six, seven good friends" to extreme-sport accidents yet he has no plans to take up something with a safer track record.

"You remember their spirit. You remember their smile," he said of his fallen comrades. "If anything, it gives you more inspiration to do what you're doing. It's like Nietzsche said, 'The secret to reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.'"

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, was saddened by the news of Burke's death but insisted freestyle skiing is no more dangerous than any other winter sport. "There are always risks attached to sport," he stated.

Mitigating those risks is the relentless challenge. The International Ski Federation is presently examining how to equip downhill skiers with air bags to protect them during high-speed spills. FIS has been working with Dainese, the Italian company that makes protection for mountain bikers and motorcyclists. Canadian downhillers Erik Guay and Jan Hudec have been involved in the testing. Three years into the project, FIS is hoping to have a race suit fully ready for the end of this year.

Not so high tech, yet just as important, is the way young athletes are trained for their sport. Alpine Canada is holding a series of speed skills camps to instruct young racers on how to ski safely. At Calgary's Canada Olympic Park, there are plans to expand on an acrobatics room with trampolines and foam pits for budding freestylers. The kids, ages 9 to 14, practise there first before graduating to jumping off a ramp and landing in an air bad. Eventually, after hundreds of practice jumps, they move to the snow and begin in moderation.

"What we're doing is hiring top coaches to train top athletes," said Daniel Lefebvre, COP's director of education/sport development. "You have to build their confidence."

Shouldice, who recovered from both of his bad crashes but is currently sidelined with a concussion, endorses all of that - solid training and coaching. He also believes Burke's death, whole tragic, will not adversely affect freestyle skiing.

"I don't think this is going to change anyone's opinion of freestyle," he said. "Yes, there are risks. There are risks driving to work every day, Look at the number of people in freestyle and this is our first death. A lot of sports can't say that."

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Given the risks involved, where's the appeal in extreme sports?

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It is part adrenalin rush and part risk/reward that drive people to take part in established and extreme sports

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On Wednesday October 18th, eight of the world's best wingsuit jumpers gathered at the edge of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, China to participate in the inaugural World Championships of the extreme sport. Originally scheduled to be held on the 13th, the event had to be delayed due to bad weather, a fact that did not seem to bother the contestants who all just wanted to soar in the skies!

Wearing their special 'birdman suits' each competitor leaped off the 1,400 meter (4,600 ft.) ledge one at a time and maneuvered the tricky route that required them to fly around an anchored Red Bull hot-air balloon, then straight down the Tianmen mountain and under a moving tramway cable to the ' finish line'. Their only goal? To fly as fast as they could to earn the coveted title of the World's First Wingsuit Champion.

South Africa's Julian Boulle dominated the day with a speedy descent time of 23.41 seconds. While that was pretty impressive, it was not as good as the 23.01 seconds it took him to complete the same course at the preliminaries that took place on Wednesday October 17th. Close on his heels was Norwegian flyer Espen Fadness with time of 23.55 seconds followed by Britain's James Boole who zipped in at 23.84 seconds.

The third place win was particularly sweet for the British athlete given that the professional skydiver had experienced a severe crash in 2008 when his parachute failed to open during a wingsuit flight over Kamchatka, Russia, resulting in a broken back, cracked rib and a bruised lung. Forced to wear a body brace for three months, he had thought he would never be able to jump again.

Missing from the roster of winners or even finalists was world record holder and the person that is largely responsible for turning wingsuit diving into a mainstream extreme sport - Jeb Corliss, who injured his legs during the qualifying event the previous day and was unable to participate in the Thursday finals.

However, the fearless diver has already performed an even more daring stunt in the same area by flying through a narrow opening on the side of the Tianmen Mountain in 2011 and, there's always next year, when the organizers are promising to come up with an even more thrilling and tougher route - We for one, cannot wait!

Resources: Chinadaily.com, telegraph.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk

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The World's First Wingsuit Champion Is Crowned

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On Wednesday October 18th, eight of the world's best wingsuit jumpers gathered at the edge of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, China to participate in the inaugural World Championships of the extreme sport.

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Choose Your AdventureWelcome to the Outdoors section of Exploration Junkie! Exploration often implies various outdoor activities and sports - on land, in the water, or in the air. And of course, it's also a lot of fun. Develop your outdoor skills now and take your outside experiences to a whole new level!

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X Games too extreme? New questions after snowmobile accident | CNN

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Serious injury to snowmobiler brings increased scrutiny to the safety of X Games.

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Do you like the excitement of extreme sports? If so, you might be an 'adrenaline junkie'. Find out more about white-water rafting and parkour in this video.

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Who Its The Toughest Action Sports Athlete?

Who's the UGIEST of them all? Action Sport athletes are some of the most fearless, some might say crazy, humans on earth. They are driven by pure adrenaline, and the fact that they're risking life and limb on a daily basis only seems to fuel their fire. The unrelenting pursuit of progression leads these athletes to push the boundaries and test the limits of whať's possible, sometimes resulting in serious or fatal accidents. But you can only have ONE TRUE badass of the bunch and Krush set out to find who that is. WHAT'S THE PERCEPTION OUT THERE? WHICH ACTION SPORT HAS THE TOUGHEST ATHLETES? A recent 2012 survey of action sports athletes revealed that motocross athletes were perceived to be the toughest. *Respondents were asked to choose among the six sports listed below 32% 26.1% 18% MOTOCROSS SKATEBOARDING 11.8% SNOWBOARDING 7.7% BMX 4.4% SURFING FREESKIING #1 # 2 # 3 # 4 # 5 #6 WHERE'S THE RISK? NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IN EACH SPORT THAT GET INJURED PREDICTION (Per 1,000 participants) *Per 1,000 surfing hours for surfing New school freestyle skiing, or "freeskiing", has only come onto the scene since the late 1990's. Being such a young sport, data is scarce when it comes to tracking injuries and risk and includes both freeskiing and alpine skiing. We predict that the injuries per thousand will be significantly higher in the coming years. 100 94.5 63 60 40 20 8.9 6.97 6.6 2.63 Freestyle Motocross BMX Skateboarder Snowboarder Surfer Freeskier MOST COMMON INJURY IN EACH SPORT SHOULDER INJURIES LACERATIONS AND ABRASIONS BLUNT CHEST AND ABDOMINAL TRAUMA WRIST INJURIES TORN LIGAMENTS ANKLE INJURIES THE BEST OF THE WORST INJURIES NOTABLE ATHLETES FROM EACH SPORT RATED ON THEIR INJURY LEVEL *The rating system is a cross reference between seriousness & frequency of injuries FREQUENCY OF INJURIES KEVIN PEARCE TRAVIS PASTRANA MIKE METZGER MAT HOFFMAN JACOB TRETTE DAVE MIRRA O BRIAN DEEGAN JAKE BROWN DANNY WAY TRAVIS RICE TANNER HALL less often FREQUENCY OF INJURIES more often ATHLETES TRAVIS PASTRANA: Has one of the most extensive injury rap sheets in the action sports industry, including a rare dislocated spinal injury. MAT HOFFMAN: Fell after clearing 23 feet in the air, rupturing his spleen. He was given 20 minutes to live. MIKE METZGER: Broken vertebrae in his back and neck, injured both collarbones, and lacerated his kidney training for X17. KEVIN PEARCE: Sustained a traumatic brain injury after hitting his head on the hard icy side of the halfpipe training for the Olympics. DAVE MIRRA: He is called the "Miracle Boy" because he survives so many serious accidents. BRIAN DEEGAN: Broke his hip, snapped his humerus in half, broke his wrists five times, compressed a vertebra in his back and blew up his kidney doing a backflip. JAKE BROWN: Brown spent three days in a hospital recovering from a broken wrist, a bleeding liver, a bruised lung and cracked vertebrae. JACOB TRETTE: Almost drowned after being trapped underwater by two 25-foot waves. Spent three days in an induced coma in the ICU. DANNY WAY: Has had 13 surgeries, including eight on his knee, along with four ACL reconstructions in the same knee. TANNER HALL: Broke both ankles in 2005, then suffered fractures to both tibial plateaus, and ACL tears in each knee in 2010. TRAVIS RICE: Travis ruptured his spleen and spent six days in intensive care. TAKEN TOO SOON HEROIC ATHLETES, WE HONOR AND REMEMBER ALWAYS KARGOLA (1983-2011) JIM (1978-2011) JEREMY LUSK JEFF (1982-2012) CR JOHNSON MCCONKEY CRAIG AARON ROBINSON MCNEIL SHANE KELLY (1966-2003) (1984-2009) SARAH BURKE Freestyle Motocross JOYEUX (1980-2005) (1983-2010) (1969-2009) Freestyle Motocross MILOSKY Freestyle Motocross (1983-2011) SION (1975-2011) MALIK Freeskier Freeskier Freeskier Snowboarder Snowboarder Surfer Surfer BY DRIN With all action sports comes a certain degree of risk and fear that isn't found in other sports. This risk, along with the reward, is what motivates these athletes day in and day out, and even though we give props to every single one of them... WE CAN ONLY HAVE ONE WINNER: MOTOCROSS frousHEST SOURCES http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/facts-ski-snbd-safety.asp http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15133584 http://www.aafp.org/afp/2001/0515/p2007.html#afp20010515p2007-b13 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070102092203.htm http://www.sandersclinic.net/common_motoxinj.html http://www.orthonurse.org/portals/0/sports%20med%203.pdf https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-042612-120758/unrestricted/final.pdf http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/40/4/770.abstract http://vuir.vu.edu.au/712/ KRUSH K http://travispastrana.net/extra/injuries/ ptavispastre http://magazine.stack.com/Thelssue/Article/7775/OneonOne_With_Brian_Deegan. aspx http://sports.espn.go.com/action http://www.grindtv.com/athlete/jeremy-lusk/ http://www.kidzworld.com/article/2703-xtreme-sports-injuries# http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/17/news_pf/Sports/Extremely_painful.shtml http://skateboarding.transworld.net/1000077290/news/danny-way-hospitalized-at-mega-ramp-contest/ http://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/4892-jacob-trette-released-from-hospital-after-induced-coma http://www.surfermag.com/features/malikrip/ "Survey Results: 300+ respondents surveyed nationwide through Krush media outlets less serious SERIOUSNESS OF THE INJURY more serious

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Who Its The Toughest Action Sports Athlete?

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The toughest action sports athletes based on public opinion and injury reports. What do you think? Do you agree?

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Extreme Sports Facts

Check out our range of extreme sports facts.

Learn about the summer and winter X Games, different types of extreme sports, the surfaces and environments such as water, land, snow and air, as well as lots more interesting facts and information.

Extreme sports, sometimes called action sports or adventure sports, do not have an exact definition but are generally considered to be activities that are seen as having a high level of potential danger.

Extreme sports often involve high speeds, dangerous heights, the requirement for a high level of specialist technical skill, and highly specialized gear or equipment.

Success in extreme sports usually involves judging panels scoring athletes based on visual and technical criteria and completion of a 'trick'.

Height based extreme sports include Bungee jumping, skydiving, BASE jumping, paragliding and hang gliding.

Water based extreme sports include scuba diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding surfing, whitewater kayaking and rafting.

Wheel based extreme sports include BMX, skateboarding, mountain biking, inline skating, rally car and motocross.

Winter based extreme sports include skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobile.

Cliff and cave based extreme sports include rock climbing, ice climbing, caving, free diving, mountaineering and cave diving.

The X Games are an annual extreme sports event, organized by the U.S. sports broadcaster ESPN. Participants compete to win gold, silver, and bronze medals along with prize money.

The first Summer X Games were held in 1995 in Newport, Rhode Island. The first Winter X Games were held in 1997 at Mountain Resort, Big Bear Lake, California.

X Games are typically held in the USA. The winter games are held in January or February and the summer games are usually held in August.

X Games have also been held in Asia since 1998 and Europe since 2010.

The X Games competitions often makes heroes of those athletes who are talented and brave enough to pull of a new and exciting 'trick' such as Tony Hawk's 900 in skateboarding, Travis Pastrana's double backflip in freestyle motocross, Heath Frisby's first snowmobile front flip or snowboarder Torstein Horgmo's triple flip.

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Extreme Sports Facts - Information About X Games, Action Sports & More

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Extreme Sports Facts Check out our range of extreme sports facts. Learn about the summer and winter X Games, different types of extreme sports, the surfaces and environments such as water, land, snow and air, as well as lots more interesting facts and information.

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Mountain Climbing and Extreme Sports Book Collection on Epic

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Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started