during the stressful period, while revving up the parts of your body
that are crucial to survival (like your muscles). Under the influence
of cortisol, your muscles tense, blood pressure increases, heart rate
quickens, feel-good endorphins flow, pupils dilate, attention
focuses, and digestive functioning slows to a crawl (which is why
you get “butterflies” in your stomach when you’re nervous). What’s
more, you breathe more quickly to get oxygen moving around your
body. At the same time, blood is diverted away from your digestive
organs and the bladder relaxes. This might explain why we feel the
need to go to the bathroom during stressful situations. Blood is
diverted to the major muscle groups. You are ready to rumble – or
run.
For a low sensation-seeker like me, even using my phone to
record Nick’s jump was enough to get my catecholamines and
cortisol flowing. The arousal caused by the situation was immense.
Cars were zooming by on my left. The river was hundreds of feet
below on my right. Nick and the rest of the jumpers were adjusting
what seemed like dozens of straps and hooks that I imagined would
lead to terrible injury if adjusted improperly. I worried that
a sudden updraft might launch my phone over the guardrail as
I tried to record the scene, not to mention people were climbing
over a guardrail to jump off a bridge (after insisting on high-fiving
me). My heart jumped in my chest. My breathing was shallow. I was
clearly rattled – and I was just watching.
But when Nick jumped off the bridge, he was flowing
instead of freaking. He said he felt calm and hyperaware. For high
sensation-seekers like Nick, the extra arousal didn’t overwhelm
him. It enhanced the experience. How is this possible? It can be
explained by what some psychologists call optimal level theory.The Optimal Level Theory
Early theories of sensation-seeking focused on the “optimal” or
perfect level of arousal for a situation.^6 It’s like the story of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You remember the story. Three
bears, Papa Bear, Mamma Bear and Baby Bear, go for a walk after
they’ve made their breakfast of porridge. Goldilocks wanders in
and tries their chairs, beds, and breakfast, complaining that some
aren’t quite to her liking while others are “just right.” The optimal
level is like the Goldilocks zone – not too much, not too little, but
just right. Too much stimulation can be overwhelming. Too little31 / Born to Be WildDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:20:40, subject to the Cambridge