Can causing yourself to black out cause permanent damage?

Question

We have been practising blacking out at lunchtime at school.

First we hyperventilate, then hold our breath for as long as we can, before we stand up and spin ourselves around and around really fast. It causes your vision to go black and you 'pass out' for about a second, waking as your body hits the ground. My friend Karls record is about 5 seconds.

What I want to know is, is there any risk of internal damage by doing this? brain or otherwise?

Answer 1

he who fights by the sword, dies by the sword.
stop this silly nonsence. you may not wake up one day.

Answer 2

To follow is more detailed information, but in easy to understand terms, you are permanently killing brain cells every time you do it and it could result in a stroke, coma and/or death.

Taken from the website http://www.deadlygameschildrenplay.com/en/home.asp

"Playing this game in any form causes the permanent and cumulative death of large numbers of brain cells. The variation in blood pressure may also cause strokes, seizures, and retinal damage.

The danger becomes even greater when a ligature is used and the activity is performed by a lone child. If the child loses consciousness and there is no one there to IMMEDIATELY release the pressure, he is unable to help himself. The child will suffer brain damage and death certainly after three minutes. Some of those who have died were alone for as little as 15 minutes before someone found them and it was already too late. This activity can claim a child's life the first time it is played."

From Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_choking_game

"Because the brain maintains no reserves of O2 and, unlike other organs, has an exceedingly low tolerance of O2 deprivation it is highly vulnerable if vasoconstriction is not reversed. Normally, if the brain is hypoxic, autonomous systems in the body divert blood to the brain at the expense of other organs; because the brain is vasoconstricted this mechanism is not available. Vasoconstriction is only reversed by the build-up of CO2 in the blood through suspension of breathing. If this build-up does not happen quickly enough, or if the vasodilation mechanism itself is slow to respond, irreversible brain damage or death becomes a possibility. This mechanism is too complex to be dealt with adequately within this article; for a good treatment of the paradoxical relationship between hyperventilation and hypoxia see USAF Respiratory Physiology."

Most chilling of all, check out the "Angels" section of with pictures of a few of the kids from the age of 8 to 25 who have DIED from playing this game.

It is estimated that 250-1,000 kids a year die from this practice, but hard to determine as the deaths are usually classified as suicides.


http://www.deadlygameschildrenplay.com/en/stories-angels.asp

Answer 3

Yea, each time you black out you reduce the supply of oxygen to the brain. When this occurs brain cells begin to die immediatly, kinda like the drunk who passes out. Anyway, keep it up with your friend and find out if he gets into Harvard or not.

Answer 4

Dumb*sses

Answer 5

My friends used to do this, until chuck had to admitted to hospital, he burst a blood vessel in his eye, i dont know if it was related to the game, but it scared us enough to stop

Answer 6

YES. that causes damage. Don't do that!

Answer 7

of course it will cause damage dont do it

Answer 8

why in the heck would u want to do that???? kids these days r sooo weird!!!!
quit this stupid crap plz! thats not good!

Answer 9

other than the fact that if you screw up it could kill you??

Answer 10

yes.......u are stopping the oxygen flow to ur brain which in turn causes brain damage. duh.