Methylation is powerful. For example, when a honey bee is
fed royal jelly, methylation causes the bee to grow larger, live longer,
grow ovaries and become a queen bee.^34 Methylation patterns are
also affected by behaviors. Let’s imagine a mother rat (called a dam)
has a mischief of pups. There are so many, some get lots of attention,
like licks and grooming, others get ignored. Rats change their DNA
methylation patterns based on how much attention they are given
by their mothers when they are young. In pups whose mothers give
them a lot of attention, a gene that helps modulate stress is activated.
On the other hand, when a mother rat ignores or neglects the pups,
the gene remains silenced. Because of this, pups of attentive mothers
grow up to be less stressed and chill while the pups of neglectful
mothers grow up anxious.^35 If you examined the genes themselves
they would be identical. What’s different? The gene’s expression –
which is determined by the behavior of the mother.
It’s possible that early stimulating environments like those in
high sensation-seeking families could create genetic expression that
increases the possibility of sensation-seeking. Maybe Chris and Jess
should start saving for rock climbing camp for their new baby after all.~
My head was still buzzing as my taxi drove from The Bridge. It was
hard to wrap my head around the fact that during a business trip
I witnessed four people safely land from a 400-foot jump. It seemed
like a random spontaneous act – but it wasn’t.
The decision for Nick to move to Twin Falls and to jump
that day was influenced by his biology, environment, and maybe
a few other things as well. I wondered: for someone who craved
such exciting experiences, surely this need for the buzz must affect
other areas of his life as well. I asked him if it influenced his
relationship with his friends. “You mean my non-jumper friends?”
he asked. “I don’t have any.”
Then it hit me. When high sensation-seeking reaches
a certain point – driven by biology and environmental circum-
stances – it’s not just something you do on the weekend. It’s
woven into the very fabric of your personality. Born this way or
not, it’s who you are. This made me curious: What does the daily life
of a high sensation-seeker look like? What about relationships? Is
work impacted? I realized there was something valuable to learn
from looking at the ways in which high sensation-seeking mani-
fests itself on a day-to-day basis.47 / 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