"For natural highs -- from stilettos to skydiving -- experts say to look beyond the bedroom. Some activities can actually mimic your brain's response to sex, says Ronald Frederick, a licensed psychologist and the author of the forthcoming book "Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want."
""Some of the same chemicals are involved," he says. "A 'natural high,' that pleasant feeling one experiences during and after a certain activity like running or strenuous exercise, has to do with the release of endorphins, as well as other mood-regulating hormones such as adrenaline, serotonin, cortisol and melatonin. Orgasm also produces a flood of endorphins, which is what makes us feel calm and relaxed after sex.""
While I can’t speak to a thrill of wearing stilettos, I can attest that hiking and skiing - especially skiing – can be as good if not better than sex, and you can do it much longer. Putting on the boots in both cases do stir an anticipation, so perhaps the author is referring to that anticipation.
The anticipation works along the same lines as looking at a nude woman, or even seeing photos or video. The objects are stimulating for what they imply.
Then when it gets to the activity, there are few rushes in life that are the equal of skiing steep terrain. Its akin to jumping off a roof top and landing safely. Not once. Not twice, but hundreds of times over the course of the day. Hiking has a similar effect but more subtle. I’d imagine that rock climbing and repelling are on par with skiing for the rush they bring.
Activities that completely involve your mind and body and give an unrelenting thrill are all the best that life has to offer.
It is interesting that the most pleasurable parts of our existence require physical activity. We are unable to access these physical/emotional responses by just thinking. On a wider level, it seems that way too many in our country are frighteningly unaware of this fact. And this plays a central role in why we as a culture have wandered in the direction of obesity and other results of life styles devoid of physical activity and physical highs.
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