In case life hasn’t given you enough twists and turns lately, you can always seek out more at your local amusement park.
It’s National Roller Coaster Day.
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Aug. 16 commemorates the day the first looping coaster got its patent all the way back in 1898. But coasters have been around longer than that.
They’re thought to have originated from specially constructed hills of ice called “Russian mountains” in Saint Petersburg that people slid down back in the 1600s.
These days, we’ve got hyper coasters, which stand over 200 feet tall, giga coasters, which reach 300 feet and a few specialty coasters even surpass 400 feet.
Not only is the cathartic screaming on a roller coaster good for your mental health, there may be additional benefits to riding them.
Some research has shown the shaking of a coaster can help loosen kidney stones and make them easier to pass.