Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sledding athletes are taking their lives

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 241 posts

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#231

Post by DataGata »

alex_duf wrote: post #207
nabla9 wrote: post #98

TBI seem to have huge consequences that are not connected to the TBI. In the US 2% of the general population is arrested annually. Of those who have had TBI roughly third. A similar one-third rate was found in a community sample of children and adolescents with TBI. In death row inmates it's even more common to have received TBI in childhood. https://www.brainline.org/article/traumatic-brain-injury-pri... https://www…

could that be the other way around? If you're more rowdy, you're more likely to have had a traumatic brain injury?

They are almost certainly a vicious cycle of TBI increasing the chance for TBI-related* behaviors in the future. (*either getting or receiving).

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#232

Post by libraryatnight »

stefs wrote: post #124
libraryatnight wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend the YouTube rabbit hole of Alex Honnold interviews, whenever he talks about risk it's interesting.

honnold may be a special case. his capabilities of dealing with risk and fear are exceptional.

He has a unique perspective, I've heard on a couple occasions him talking about his father dropping dead of a heart attack changing planes. I can't find the exact video or I'd link it, but he's clearly thought a lot about risk and is pretty interesting to listen to even if you're not enamored with his exploits.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#233

Post by libraryatnight »

def_true_false wrote: post #197
TheRealSteel wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say it's partly that, but more a case of survivorship bias; we don't hear from other solo free climbers because most of them are dead.

citation needed Edit: It's not like these climbers never climb with gear. That is, they don't have to confront the learning curve and fatal consequences at the same time. They can also learn safely via bouldering, climbing above water and such.

Yes, that's sort of why I recommended his interviews, because he's given it a lot of thought and has interesting things to say about risk (I imagine even if he initially didn't think a ton about it, people constantly asking has given him some good answers) in addition to the explanation that these climbs are prepared for in advance.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#234

Post by libraryatnight »

freedrock87 wrote: post #167
stefs wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

honnold may be a special case. his capabilities of dealing with risk and fear are exceptional.

Why is he a special case. There are hundreds if not 1000s of people that want to be risk takers for no other reason then the risk its self

You're right. Just visit GoPros youtube channel. There's no shortage of adrenaline seekers.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#235

Post by frank2 »

S_A_P wrote: post #189

Question- if this sport has been going on since 1924 why are the athletes only just now starting to take their lives?

They probably have been taking their lives all along.

The knowledge that repeated head traumas can cause suicidality has only been widespread for 10 to 15 years. Before then for example it was commonly believed even by experts that the only head traumas that can cause permanent problems are those where the victim loses consciousness right after the hit.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#237

Post by def_true_false »

skizm wrote: post #222
def_true_false wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, seems I read "workout" as "generic exercise" in your previous post, but I guess you meant high intensity stuff exclusively. I'm pretty sure most athletes have stuff to do that doesn't really have this sort of limit -- like cardio or technical work.

Runners experience the same immune suppression effects as people who train HIIT: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8164529/

Interesting.

The thinking behind my post was that if you add up training (for the activity they compete in) and all the other physical activities people do, the differences in training volume will be dominated by the other differences -- consider people with jobs that involve manual labor, or, to a lesser extent, bike commuters. Perhaps this was controlled for in the studies?

The other thing I had in mind was people whose sports involve lots of different movements one can practice -- say, ice hockey. I have no idea whether ice hockey shooting practice counts as high intensity... but it's not nothing, and doesn't seem much like ultra running either.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#238

Post by SamWhited »

crististm wrote: post #156
SamWhited wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter. You don't have to measure something perfectly and exactly to decide if it's an avenue of research worth exploring. If turns are designed to limit G-forces to 5G, and you put sensors on your helmet and they're reading 55G when your head hits the ice, that's probably an indication that further research is required.

You could have >55G when you stay in your room and bump your head against the wall

Yes, but you don't do that over and over again every day. Unless you like practicing bumping your head against a wall, but it's not a sport I've ever heard of.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#239

Post by crististm »

SamWhited wrote: post #238
crististm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could have >55G when you stay in your room and bump your head against the wall

Yes, but you don't do that over and over again every day. Unless you like practicing bumping your head against a wall, but it's not a sport I've ever heard of.

ok - You have a point. Researching this area is worth it. Can you see that the others also have a point? That is, measuring helmet g-forces is a proxy to find head g-forces but they are not one and the same?

However, the real issue is not g-forces on _corners_ it is the g-forces on _head/helmet hitting the ice_ where 5 g from the first are rounding errors compared to 55g from the second.

Re: Sledding athletes are taking their lives

#240

Post by SamWhited »

crististm wrote: post #239
SamWhited wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you don't do that over and over again every day. Unless you like practicing bumping your head against a wall, but it's not a sport I've ever heard of.

ok - You have a point. Researching this area is worth it. Can you see that the others also have a point? That is, measuring helmet g-forces is a proxy to find head g-forces but they are not one and the same? However, the real issue is not g-forces on _corners_ it is the g-forces on _head/helmet hitting the ice_ where 5 g from the first are rounding errors compared to 55g from the second.

"measuring helmet g-forces is a proxy to find head g-forces but they are not one and the same"

I don't think I said they were, just that it's a worthwhile thing to measure to see if you should start finding a way to get better measurements. I agree they are not the same and this is not a definitive study. This is often how science works, you do something quick and easy. If it came out that it was only ever minor forces on the outside of the helmet, it's probably not worth investigating since the forces inside the helmet will be even less. If they're huge, repeated forces, it's probably worth trying to come up with a better rig to measure actual force and see if it's above a healthy level.

Post reply on HN