My personal experience with rich people (including several billionaires) is that there is typically a lot of pressure for their time and attention, both externally and within their own brains.
Certain activities, including physical exertion, driving, and flying, force conscious attention to the present moment, and easily produce a “flow state”.
Of course, you can also produce that state with meditation, sex, and many other activities, but it typically requires more skill and intention.
My interpretation is that endurance sports are a straightforward way to induce pleasurable states of being for an extended duration, and these pleasurable states of being are actually statistically rarer in many wealthy people.
Certain activities, including physical exertion, driving, and flying, force conscious attention to the present moment, and easily produce a “flow state”.
Of course, you can also produce that state with meditation, sex, and many other activities, but it typically requires more skill and intention.
My interpretation is that endurance sports are a straightforward way to induce pleasurable states of being for an extended duration, and these pleasurable states of being are actually statistically rarer in many wealthy people.