Times of the Islands Summer 2017

Although the global fascination with surfing continues
unabated, the obsession by those who do it today
would be quite recognisable to ancient Hawaiians. They,
like their modern counterparts around the world, including
TCI, understood what happens when good waves are
breaking. It starts with excitement and trepidation as
you first feel the massive mountain of fast-moving water
beneath you. Suddenly, there is mental clarity and focus.
You lose yourself and enter a new state of consciousness.
Nothing matters. It’s just you, a finely honed plank, and
a curling wall of aqua-blue ocean.The glide keeps going.
Time disappears. Instinct takes over. And you know the
pure, primal thrill of being alive.
Surf addiction
That riveting sensation, the “Surf Stoke,” has been the
focus of studies that seek to determine what happens to
the brain when riding a wave. Essentially, neuroscience
research shows that the primitive pleasure experience
part of our brain, called the limbic emotional center, runs
on the neurotransmitter dopamine.
When we feel pleasure, dopamine is released as a
reward. Risk, novelty, desire and effortful creativity in
particular stimulate dopamine release, all of which also
happen to be prime factors at play in surfing.
The vivid excitement generated by surfing is further
enhanced by endorphin opioids released during aerobic
activity, similar to “runner’s high.” On top of that, the rush
of adrenaline stimulates the brain to mimic the primitive
“flight or fight” impulse early humans developed as a critical
element in survival when facing danger. All of these
combine into a serious dopamine/endorphin/adrenaline
cocktail that explodes over the brain, according to Wallace
J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind. That super-intense feeling
in the limbic pleasure section is remembered and, over
time, wires the brain in a manner that creates a craving
for more. Interestingly, recent research suggests that the
brains of the biggest risk takers may be more numb to
excitement, i.e. fewer dopamine receptors, and thus take
bigger chances to get the same rush.
The desire to do it over and over can become an addiction
that, unsurprisingly, has parallels with substance
abuse. Drugs produce that same dopamine-release kick
in the pleasure zone of the brain. Dr. David Zald, professor
of psychology at Vanderbilt University Brain Institute,
studies the neurochemical mechanisms of addiction and
substance abuse and applies them to surfing. Quoted in
Blue Mind, Dr. Zald states, “As surfers are first learning,
there’s an amazing burst of dopamine simply when they
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Times of the Islands Summer 2017 41