A Long The Way.

February 14, 2008, 6:04 pm
Youth ‘Choking Game’ Can Be Deadly
Posted by Sarah Rubenstein
The Health Blog’s adolescent years faded into history long ago. Maybe that’s why we’d never heard of a game that teens today sometimes call Space Monkey, Airplaning, Space Cowboy or Flat Liner.

The names may sound funny, but the game is deadly serious. The nicknames refer to what is more accurately called the “choking game,” in which youngsters wrap everything from dog leashes to bungee cords around their necks to temporarily cut blood flow to their brains, as this AP story explains. The goal is a dreamy, floating-in-space sensation when blood rushes back to the brain.

In a first, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an estimate of the death toll from the choking game that relied on reports in the media and on two Web sites. Death certificates, the researchers wrote, aren’t precise enough for the task. The researchers found 82 probable deaths among youths aged 6–19 years, from 1995 to 2007, due to the choking game. Seventy-one, or 87%, of the victims were male, and the average age was about 13 years. (Deaths ruled to be suicides or from auto-erotic asphyxiation were excluded.)

Through the CDC report, we came across a youth health-risk survey that lists nicknames for the game as well as danger signs for parents to watch for:

Suspicious mark on side of the neck sometimes hidden by wearing turtlenecks, scarves and up-turned collars.
Changes in personality, such as overly aggressive or agitated.
Straps, rope or belt lying around without any reason.
A flushed face or bloodshot eyes.
A thud in the bedroom or against a wall.
For more info and an online forum for discussion, see the Web site Games Adolescents Shouldn’t Play.

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