News and Travel Editor
Every few weeks on my Twitter feed, announcements pop up regarding a glass bridge in China. The widest, the longest, the highest, the scariest, one with a restaurant, one you can hit with a sledgehammer… the openings keep coming! As someone with a slight fear of heights, I’m yet to give any of them a go, but I can’t help but wonder WHY do they keep getting built? Am I missing out on something amazing? Aren’t they all….kind of the same?
I did a little digging to find out more.
Tourism
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Time for a spot of science. Architect Keith Brownlie, who was involved in a glass bridge for The London Science Museum, said that the appeal of these walkways is”thrill”. Speaking to the BBC, he said “It is the relationship between emotionally driven fear and the logical understanding of safety,” he said. “These structures tread the boundary between those two contrasting senses and people like to challenge their rational mind in relation to their irrational fear.”
Dr. Margee Kerr, a Pittsburgh (US)-based sociologist expands on this by explaining to The Huffington Post why triggering a ‘fight or flight’ response can feel good “Our arousal system is activated and triggers a cascade of ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters and hormones like endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline that influence our brains and our bodies” She also suggests that pride from overcoming these fears and bonding with friends and family in the process also makes scaring yourself silly so appealing.
Sky-high yoga
Okay, I’m kidding, I just wanted an excuse to include these gloriously unusual photos.
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Very interesting blog, but the photographs seem to be missing?
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Thank you for letting me know, Roland, i’ll fix this now!
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I think I would brave it and walk along one of the bridges, just so long as it doesn’t move or wobble at all!!
And I agree, those yoga pictures are unusual but amazing!
Liss
https://chinainspo.wordpress.com/
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Thanks so much for your comment, Liss!
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