The Choking Game

The current event article that I did is on the choking game.   It also has many other names including suffocation roulette, space monkey, and the funky chicken.   The choking game is when a person or many people cut off the oxygen supply to the brain and cause themselves to pass out.   One reason that people do it is because it is very simple to do, and all you need is a belt, a rope, or even just your hands.   Another reason why some people do it is because it gives them a feeling of being high right before they pass out, and an adrenaline rush afterward.   Many people do not think that this game is that bad, however it is very dangerous.   If you play the choking game, loss of oxygen in the brain causes your brain cells to die.   This can lead to short term memory loss, hemorrhage and harm to the retina, stroke, seizures, coma, permanent brain damage, concussions from falling, and even death.   Also, if you play the choking game wrong and accidently squeeze a group of nerves in the person’s neck, their heart will stop beating.

A real life example is a case that happened in the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen.   A 15-year old boy named Levi Draher positioned his knees on top of a stock of mattresses, his torso was forward and his neck was pressed into a black nylon cord he had tied between two bed bunks.   He was in an empty bedroom in his company barracks.   Levi’s roommate is just a few yards away in another room, but he does not hear Levi since he has headphones on.   Levi’s mother then walks into the barracks and she sees Levi passed out on top of the wire.   She rushes over and calls the paramedics.   Levi had no heartbeat and was not breathing, and he was clinically dead for over 20 minutes.   He luckily survived to educate more people about the choking game.

The reason that I chose this article is because a friend told me about a story where he knew somebody that did it, and the person that did it almost died from it.   This caused me to want to research it...