Its so funny to hear your voice after you inhale the gas. I have heard of Astronauts and deep sea divers that have to breath helium for weeks as part of their training, so I always thought that it was harmless. But when I was at the store buying balloons these two little ladies behind the counter insisted that I never let the children play with the helium because it causes brain damage. I personally don't think so but maybe I'm wrong.
2006-08-29 06:08:26 · 11 answers · asked by Doug L 1 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Other - General Health Care
I was interested to find out this answer, and so went looking for it....
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Many adults have childhood memories of breathing in helium from inflated balloons in science class or at a birthday party and hearing their own unrecognizable high-pitched voice that sounds like Alvin and The Chipmunks, or The Wizard Of Oz Munchkins. While it's fun and generally harmless to inhale helium and chirp or squeak, some additional information may help you put this in perspective.
Breathing in pure helium can be risky because it displaces oxygen (as breathing in any gas besides or not mixed with oxygen would do), the gas necessary to sustain life. In other words, since bodies need oxygen, but are getting pure helium instead, the result is suffocation. One breath of pure helium can cause hypoxia (a deficiency of oxygen reaching the body's tissues) and result in dizziness. The next real breath of (oxygenated) air will allow everything to return to normal. That breath will happen automatically once the air from speaking (in a cartoon duck's voice) is expended. If anyone is going to inhale helium this way, it might be wiser to do so while sitting down; that way, if the person becomes dizzy, s/he won't fall and possibly hurt her-/himself.
Inhaling continuous breaths of helium one after another starves the body of oxygen. A person will eventually pass out, and perhaps even worse. At most, inhaling once or twice from a helium balloon, separated by deep inhalations of air, will be a way to prevent the harm.
Breathing in helium (or any other gas) from a pressurized tank, as opposed to from a balloon, is dangerous. Inhaling pressurized gas creates the possibility of rupturing a lung or creating an air embolism (gas bubbles in the blood that can cause seizures). In this case, it is not necessarily the helium that is dangerous, but the pressure of the gas itself. Breathing in pressurized oxygen would be just as dangerous.
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I hope this helps hon!
2006-08-29 06:13:56 · answer #1 · answered by Alfa Female 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason deep sea divers and astronauts breath a mixture of helium and air is to help prevent bends -- that's what happens when air bubbles gather in your joints and other places in the body when you decompress. It is extremely painful, can be fatal, and if you survive, you can be crippled for life. So the astronauts and deep sea divers have a reason to breathe helium. They don't breathe pure helium by the way, and it doesn't go on for weeks. It's part of the decompression or the re-entry process. There is some helium in the air we breathe every day. Minute amounts, but it is there. But the human brain is not designed to cope with large amounts of helium. There have not been enough studies done on the effects of helium on the brain to either confirm or refute the little old ladies behind the counter, but personally, I'd hesitate to ingest anything that wasn't necessary and especially something that had the potential for deleterious results. Yes, it sounds funny when you breathe it and start talking like Donald Duck, but it wouldn't be so funny if you started to believe you were Donald Duck.
2006-08-29 06:18:42 · answer #2 · answered by old lady 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Divers breathe an mixture of helium with other gases - including oxygen. While breathing helium for a bit of fun won't hurt you, doing it consistently can cause serious health problems. You would be depriving your body of oxygen over the long term, so yeah - it could cause brain damage!
2006-08-29 06:15:19 · answer #3 · answered by Brutally Honest 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It can be harmful if you do it too much. It limits the amount of oxygen that gets to the brain, and of course cutting off too much oxygen to the brain can cause brain damage. I have noticed that you can get a bit of high from inhaling too much helium. I did it once several times and started feeling really light headed (no pun intended).
2006-08-29 06:13:02 · answer #4 · answered by FH 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Helium itself is completely harmless. But if enough helium is breathed in it will displace all of the oxygen. The lack of oxygen is the danger.
2006-08-29 06:12:10 · answer #5 · answered by jloertscher 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It can give you a nasty headache, and a sore throat. Brain damage? Only if you breathe in so much helium that you aren't taking in enough oxygen!
2006-08-29 06:12:08 · answer #6 · answered by Paul H 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Not dangerous at all. Just breathe air inbetween sips. The only way Helium can harm you is by asphyxiation, which can only happen if you don't breathe any air inbetween.
2016-03-27 00:13:13 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure if helium itself is dangerous, i don't think so....but i did here about a 10 year old boy that inhaled helium out of a balloon and died because his lungs exploded.
also, i think it's the lack of oxygen that could hurt you severely.
2006-08-29 06:15:51 · answer #8 · answered by -Incline- 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yes it is. There were these two college aged kids that crawled up inside a massive helium baloon and died due to lack of oxygen.
2006-08-29 06:14:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You still need oxygen - as long as you aren't breathing ONLY helium for an EXTENDED period of time, you'll be fine.
(Divers breathe a helium/oxygen mixture -- NOT pure helium!)
2006-08-29 06:11:43 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋