Do people get used to exposure or is it determined at birth?

[mgl45]

I am wondering to what extent exposure is something you can train for versus it's just something you are okay with or not?

I did some hiking as a kid, pretty exposure free, and just got back into it as a middle aged adult last year. I'm finding that I'm okay with really narrow trails switching backing up a mountainside with steep drop off on one side (like two feet barely fit side by side on the trail and occasionally just one) but if I've got airiness on multiple sides, like standing on a smallish peninsula of rock with sheer cliffs, that makes me nervous.

Despite by nervousness in them, on some mental level I'd like to enjoy those exposed environments. That's what led me to wonder if this usually gets better/easier over time.

Thanks much for any advice anyone may have!

[Wentzl]

determined at birth.

[justiner]

I've learned not to ignore fear, but accept it as a thing I'm feeling, then allow it to advise me on what I should do. (same as any strong feeling, really).

It also helps to recognize some less than ideaL responses (these should look familiar): Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn. None of these are usually what you want to experience when it comes to exposure.

[daway8]

I'd say it definitely waxes and wanes for me depending on frequency of putting myself out there.

I've never been all that afraid of heights so long as my feet are firmly planted on even a little level ground. But as soon as I become substantially dependent on my arms my comfort level drops way down.

But I found after scrambling in the Flatirons for a while that I got progressively more at ease in, and even enjoyed, iffy terrain.

However, after taking several months off from that kind of thing and going back down there I found that initially my comfort level had been drastically reduced again. But by the end of a day of scrambling my confidence level came back quickly.

You can easily get some wicked exposure in the Flatirons (just SW of Boulder) - for example the Hobo. If you're not too far from there that's a great place for all sorts of training/conditioning.

But, yes, you also don't want to ignore those nervous feelings - they exist for a reason...

[TomPierce]

Except for an occasional winter hike that is an aerobic substitute for cycling, all of my climbs are exposed 5th class. Often on non-ideal rock. I've found that with more exposure to exposure (sorry, couldn't resist ) I've gotten less stressed out about such terrain. Never entirely calm, I'm certainly aware that a wrong move could result in a snapped ankle or worse, but yeah, I think frequently being in exposed terrain leads to a level of adaptation, calmness. Just to be clear, not a cavalier attitude, but also not a gripped level of anxiety.

-Tom

[Scott P]

As far as getting used to it, it's hard to say. Exposure actually bothers me more than it used to.

For the most part, I don't think it's determined at birth though.

[JGiffinPhotog]

I've certainly gotten more comfortable with exposure after some "exposure" training (sorry, not sorry). It's something I consciously worked on a bit early on, just walking closer & closer along the edges of cliffs in canyons or on mountains to just push my comfort zone gradually to where it doesn't bother me much at all anymore. Occasionally I will have weird days where I will "feel" the exposure a bit more & get more anxiety from it for whatever reason, but overall it was just about getting more comfortable & gaining confidence in dealing with exposure to get myself over it.

[nyker]

I tend to agree with Tom. More exposure to exposure often helps blunt your fear, assuming you're doing something you love. Forcing someone to do something they hate or are scared to death over and over probably won't help. Growing up at sea level and not traveling anywhere until after college the only hikes I did when younger were on flat old former farmland or in flat forests so frankly I didn't even know what exposure was until I did my first hike as an adult.

The first real hike I did as an adult was climbing Half Done in the Sierra. It was also on my first climb to higher elevation and did it on a July 4th weekend with 10,000 other people. Needless to say the elevation, the vertical gain, the 100F heat, the altitude the length of the hike was tiring and the exposure on the final portion freaked me out literally to the point that I was nauseous in the middle of that last final cable section that I was not even able to look down. Being physically tired probably didn't help either.

After getting several more hikes and scrambles under my belt a couple years later I was in much better aerobic condition, went back and flew up and down it, five hours faster round trip and really enjoyed the cables then and paused along the way to take several photos up and down. .. Something I never would have done the first time.

Also before doing a lot more of the exposed 14ers I had taken some rock climbing courses in the 'Gunks locally as well as a couple snow travel courses on steeper slopes, both of which definitely helped me with some of the exposure.

[12ersRule]

determined at birth.

The only way to know this is to have lived 2 different lives. So, are you saying that in one of your previous incarnations you had exactly the opposite reaction to exposure as you do now? If so, this is incredible. Not only are you the only person who can actually remember one of their past lives, but can also remember minutia like whether or not you were exposure sensitive.

I would say that it's likely that people have different tolerances to exposure inherently, but like everything else in life, you can improve on it.

[Scott P]

determined at birth.

In my earlier post, I made the following comment; "For the most part, I don't think it's determined at birth though", but now that I think of it, at least some of it is.

I remember watching the movie Free Solo when they were talking about Alex Honnold's brain scans and there really was something about his brain that was different from others and it allowed him to have an abnormal control of his fear. So I guess at least sometimes, it can be determined at birth.

[derekpetrie]

It depends on my confidence level with the terrain and environment. In that sense it’s like most skills, the more you practice, the more confidence you build to challenge yourself.

That said, any situation where “a fall here will kill me” still brings a base level of fear. And how much that base level of fear amounts to does seem to depend in part on genetics. A lot of research has been done on the differing responses of the amygdala and other fear/stress related biological pathways.

[timisimaginary]

it's not determined by birth, but is probably heavily influenced by what you're "exposed" to in early life.
if you grow up around lots of dogs, you'll probably be fine around dogs... unless one of those dogs mauls you when you're 3 years old, then probably not.
the Sherpa people don't seem to bothered by exposure. probably because they grow up surrounded by it, it just becomes a fact of life, not something to be scared of.
phobias you develop in early life can be overcome, but the older you get, the harder it becomes. "exposure therapy" works for a lot of fears, it might work for "exposure phobia" too for some people.