Children ‘strangling’ themselves in latest internet video craze

CHILDREN are “strangling” themselves to get high and then sharing the videos on the internet, campaign groups have warned.

Nicknamed Space Monkey, the practice involves squeezing the carotid arteries in the neck to restrict the flow of blood to the head. Releasing the pressure leads to a sudden rush of oxygen to the brain, giving a feeling of euphoria.

But it can lead to brain damage, unconsciousness and death. The practice is well known in the US, Britain and France.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims in the last 10 years 86 children may have died in the US playing “the choking game”.

YouTube videos seen by Sky News show youths taking it in turns to squeeze each others’ necks before appearing to lose consciousness. In one video, a teenager is seen hyperventilating before having his arteries crushed – and then passing out.

On a Yahoo forum, ‘Baay’, writes: “Just as I passed out, I said, ‘It’s so scary.’”

“Then I fainted and I started like having a fit or something, like shaking, was it a fit? And my eyes were open and rolling back. Now everyone is doing it at school, and apparently if I was doing all this I could of died, is that true?”

Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “You get asphyxia anoxia which is a lack of oxygen to the brain, then you get a sudden rush of oxygen to the brain.”