11/29/2010 By Sgt. W. Zach Griffith
Adrenaline coursed through his body, kicking his heart rate through the roof and slowing down his perception of time so he could see, in great detail, that he was jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Luckily for Alderette, he was strapped to a professional sky diver and in less danger (statistically speaking) plummeting toward the hard Earth at terminal velocity then he was while driving to the drop zone a few hours earlier.
Fifty seconds and 7,500 feet later, the parachute opened and Alderette “had never felt more alive in his life.”
Doing something risky and exciting-while also maintaining a high level of safety- allows us to experience a state of positive stress.
Under stress in a positive environment, like a roller coaster or bungee jumping, your body produces a number of chemicals, including endorphins, serotonin and dopamine all of which make you feel good. This is similar to what athletes experience when they are competing, or skydivers when their feet are safely back on solid ground.
That’s why people keep coming back. In fact, on November 20, 2010, Alderette celebrated his 200th sky dive.
“It’s an amazing feeling to go from the anticipation of going against the primal parts of your brain that are screaming at you to stay in the plane, to feeling like your flying, to being back on the ground safely,” Alderette said. “It’s the most fun you can have, and it gives you mad bragging rights.”
According to researchers at Texas A&M University, adventure sports that stress you out can help you manage stress in everyday life, as long as they meet a few criteria: they have an element of danger; they're unpredictable and require your brain to adjust to changing conditions; and they're social, increasing the pressure to perform well for peers, teammates or onlookers.
“It helps put stuff into perspective at work,” Alderette said. “If you mess up in the sky, you can break an ankle or die. If you mess up at work, you might get yelled at. You also have to think faster when sky diving, make decisions quicker. It makes work seem less hectic.”
Of course, you could get the same rush from driving too fast, dodging traffic on your crotch rocket or maybe starting a bar fight out in town. The problem with those is the uncontrolled risk. There are many avenues for pent up aggression and energy around that allow for that adrenaline rush Marines so desperately crave, while mitigating unnecessary risk.
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