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| The 2014 Olympics men's super combined ski event winner, Sandro Viletta. |
Monday, March 10, 2014
Risk Taking is In Your DNA
In The New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds published an article titled, "The Genetics of Being a Daredevil" on February 19, 2014. A study done in 2006 on twins concluded that the twins shared risk taking tendencies. Environmental factors were determined to not be solely responsible for this finding. Most studies tried to find a link between dopamine and risk taking by studying drug addicts and gamblers. No connection had been found. Cynthia Thomson, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, decided to focus on athletes instead of people with addiction. Thomson's study, published in 2012, measured sensation and risk seeking in two groups of male and female professional snowboarders and skiers. The study concluded that a single nucleotide polymorphism, -521 C/T, the promoter region variant in dopamine-4-receptor gene (DRD4), is linked to a risk taking phenotype. Thomson failed to support that the -521 C/T variant was connected with impulsive sensation seeking. Thomson concludes that no single portion of our genetics can be held solely responsible for sensation seeking tendencies. She suggests that if an individual requires high levels of risk taking to obtain their perfect level of arousal, risk taking sports may be a good alternative to gambling and drugs.
Cynthia Thomson has found new evidence that supports the hypothesis that risk taking is in your DNA but further research needs to be done. Her test group was fairly small and involved only snowboarders and skiers. I would like to see this study done using a larger number of professionals involved in other high risk sports and activities. The article was concluded briefly by saying if you have high risk tendencies and do not have an outlet you will develop unhealthy addictions. This was an interesting conclusion. I am interested in what other studies might have been done to support this claim. If higher dopamine levels are needed in an individual to obtain their ideal arousal level, does that individual have a higher tendency for drug and alcohol abuse, along with a higher tendency to become a gambler? How many retired high risk professionals seek unhealthy, addictive outlets? Would age be a factor in one's risk seeking arousal levels? These are just a few questions that could provoke a further study.
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I never thought that being a dare devil may be in your genes. I always thought that it was all environmental factors that could influence a person to do those things. This article, to me, poses a question on the possibility that other characteristics that no one would guess would be gene related might be the effect of certain genes. I liked how your post was very interesting and straight to the point.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post to think about. Who would have thought that something like risk taking could actually come from DNA. This post encouraged me to look further into it since it's mind blowing to me.
ReplyDeletehttp://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask134
This article continues to talk about the "risk taking" gene and said that if you end up with this mutation within your DNA, you are more likely to do riskier things. I'm not 100% convinced on that idea. Another idea that goes hand and hand with that is risk takers are linked to a specific change in the DRD4 gene. Once again, your blog post got my attention and intrigued me.
Good choice of blog! I have always been curious as to whether risk taking was in the genes or influenced by your environment. In a way I think it is both. I think it is pretty cool that there is a risk taking gene that makes an individual behave a certain way.
ReplyDeleteThis could explain why I like to partake in dangerous situations with my friends haha. And why my dad like to ride his sport bike without a helmet and making sharp turns. Very informative
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