Why would people risk their lives for an adrenaline rush

Probably the most important skill one needs during extended social emergencies is a true understanding of what the human stress response is and how to effectively manage it. It is the stress of individuals, rather than many of the circumstances present during a collapse, that determine morbidity and mortality.

With the explosion of stress related illness, disability, and premature death in the last 40 years, the biggest regret for people living in Westernized society is not effectively managing stress. These implications have profound social and economic consequences.

For example, being an adrenaline junkie is actually a type of a dissociative disorder. As with other type of dissociative disorders, the stress response becomes so intense that much of one’s frontal lobe functioning begin to falter. When this happens, executive functioning such as self-control and emotional regulation simply evaporate. This is why so many intelligent people do unwise things when experiencing an adrenaline rush.