Gumleaf
April 14th, 2008, 04:19 AM
Monday April 14, 2008
By ninemsn staff
Teenagers are toying with death in a dangerous game that involves suffocating each other to achieve a state of euphoria.
The "Choking Game" — which involves partially strangling a player or squeezing their chest after hyperventilating — causes a " high" as the brain is briefly deprived of oxygen, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The craze, also described as "suffocation roulette", is thought to have gained momentum through video-sharing website YouTube, which hosts videos of teenagers playing the potentially deadly game to the point where they almost pass out.
One such video has scored 97,000 hits.
Australian doctors have warned families about the dangerous game.
"Kids are getting to the brown-out stage but there is a fine line between a euphoric state from lack of oxygen and completely blacking out," Sydney Children's Hospital emergency director Matthew O'Meara said.
He said he was not aware of any cases in Australia.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg encouraged parents to discuss the dangers of the game with their children.
"Children get bored, there is not much stimulation in their lives and they look for a cheap thrill," he was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.
The US Centre for Disease Control attributed 82 deaths of people aged 6-19 to the Choking Game between 1995 and 2007.
Further research found 95 percent of the deaths occurred while the victim was alone.
US website www.gaspinfo.com estimated between 250-1000 young people die from variants of the game in the US every year.
Last October, 12-year-old David Cody Hudson from Virginia in the US was found dead by his six-year-old sister with a karate belt around his neck after allegedly playing the game.
People who played the game also ran the risk of brain damage, according to Lankenau Hospital neurosurgery chief Stephen Fedder.
"If the blood supply is restored immediately, the game player might recover, but with cell loss," he said.
By ninemsn staff
Teenagers are toying with death in a dangerous game that involves suffocating each other to achieve a state of euphoria.
The "Choking Game" — which involves partially strangling a player or squeezing their chest after hyperventilating — causes a " high" as the brain is briefly deprived of oxygen, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The craze, also described as "suffocation roulette", is thought to have gained momentum through video-sharing website YouTube, which hosts videos of teenagers playing the potentially deadly game to the point where they almost pass out.
One such video has scored 97,000 hits.
Australian doctors have warned families about the dangerous game.
"Kids are getting to the brown-out stage but there is a fine line between a euphoric state from lack of oxygen and completely blacking out," Sydney Children's Hospital emergency director Matthew O'Meara said.
He said he was not aware of any cases in Australia.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg encouraged parents to discuss the dangers of the game with their children.
"Children get bored, there is not much stimulation in their lives and they look for a cheap thrill," he was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.
The US Centre for Disease Control attributed 82 deaths of people aged 6-19 to the Choking Game between 1995 and 2007.
Further research found 95 percent of the deaths occurred while the victim was alone.
US website www.gaspinfo.com estimated between 250-1000 young people die from variants of the game in the US every year.
Last October, 12-year-old David Cody Hudson from Virginia in the US was found dead by his six-year-old sister with a karate belt around his neck after allegedly playing the game.
People who played the game also ran the risk of brain damage, according to Lankenau Hospital neurosurgery chief Stephen Fedder.
"If the blood supply is restored immediately, the game player might recover, but with cell loss," he said.