Being choked during sex just a handful of times could lead to permanent brain damage, alarming study shows

It’s the increasingly popular sex act that has raised concerns among doctors across the country.

According to a recent study, asphyxiation, medically known as sexual strangulation, is experienced by as many as 58 percent of female students during intimate moments.

But now the bizarre ‘turn on’ popularized by Gen Z television shows like HBO’s Euphoria and blockbuster Fifty Shades of Gray has been shown to cause alarming damage to the brain – which could be permanent.

Research has shown that women who had choked four times in the past 30 days experienced changes in their brain structures that affected their ability to perform working memory tasks.

The study was conducted by Dr. Debbie Herbinick, a sexual and reproductive health researcher who is one of the scientists leading the study into the harms of choking.

Other studies she has led have shown that choking and other forms of rough sex are not only common among young people, but expected of them.

Restricted blood flow to the brain can cause it to immediately stop functioning at normal capacity and may develop necrosis or tissue death within five minutes due to a lack of oxygen and glucose supply.

The risks of the sexual act lie in the damage that occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen.

Even if this is only for a short period of time, such as 10 seconds, it can cause someone to faint. Minutes without oxygen can lead to permanent brain damage.

Neurons, or brain cells, begin to wither and die. To survive, they rely on emergency fuel supplies, which generate lactic acid in the bloodstream, eventually leading to tissue damage in the heart, kidneys and liver after about 20 minutes.

The attraction, proponents say, is the elation felt by the sudden rush of oxygen activated when the partner lets go.

Dr. Herbernick said: ‘There’s a lot of concern about teenagers and young people doing this, who don’t really have the full knowledge and information about this behavior yet, who may have very limited practice or experience communicating about sexuality.

“Even historically, in kink and BDSM communities, strangulation, which is what choking really is, has been off-limits to most and seen as a kind of rare or niche behavior that a small portion of people were interested in, and needed. very careful consent, communication, information.’

Areas lit in red and orange represent the choking group which had thicker brain areas in many regions, including parts of the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, in both hemispheres involved in a long range of processes including facial recognition, decision-making. making, self-awareness and motor movements

The choking group showed significant changes in fractal dimensionality (a measure of the complexity of brain structures, which indicates how intricate and detailed the surface of the cortex is) in several brain regions compared to the choking-naïve group, with increases in some areas and decreases. In others

The areas in blue represent the suffocating group that showed significantly less brain folding (gyrification) compared to the suffocating group in several brain areas involved in decision-making, planning, emotional regulation, reward processing, language processing and speech.

A survey in the journal Brain behavior looked at two groups of 41 women, one group who had choked in the past 30 days and another who had not, to see how the practice affected the structure of their brains.

The choking group showed significantly increased cortical thickness in multiple brain regions involved in face recognition, visual processing and memory compared to the choking-naïve group, indicating that the structure of their brains has been changed, perhaps permanently.

These structural changes may be associated with differences in cognitive functions or sensory processing.

Measures of the complexity of brain structures were mixed: the choking group had a larger volume in the regions involved in the processing of touch, emotional processing, recognition of other faces and bodies, but a smaller size of the areas involved in working memory , higher executive functioning and self-awareness. and visual processing.

But the study authors noted, “It is possible that individuals predisposed to mental health conditions such as depression already have altered cortical morphology, and may therefore be more susceptible to risky behavior.”

The practice of choking during sex is a relatively new phenomenon. Now that we’re no longer hiding in niche corners of the internet on pornography sites – which are flourishing – intimate choking is now a fixture in pop culture.

In addition to Euphoria, musicians such as Jack Harlow and comedians such as Ali Wong have shared their preference for this practice.

The first episode of the Max show Euphoria features a character, Cassie, having intercourse with a partner who strangles her, assuming she would enjoy it. He didn’t ask her first.

Meanwhile, Jack Harlow sings in his song Lovin On Me: ‘I’m vanilla, baby, I’ll choke you, but I ain’t no killer, baby.’

And comedian Ali Wong has said: ‘I’m a bossy person, so you’re the boss, okay? Strangle me so much I can’t talk. Because if I can talk, I’m going to tell you what to do.”

A 2022 study reported that women who were choked at least once experienced loss of consciousness, indicating at least mild acquired brain damage, seizures, motor and speech disorders, and paralysis.

Sam Pybus, 32, from Britain killed his mistress Sophie Moss, 33, (pictured) by putting pressure on her neck during sex

Sam Pybus, 32, was jailed for four years and eight months with his now ex-wife Louise Howitt after admitting the manslaughter of Sophie Moss, a vulnerable mother-of-two who he strangled in bed.

Psychological outcomes include PTSD, depression, suicidality and dissociation. Cognitive and behavioral symptoms were described less frequently, but included memory loss, increased aggression, medication adherence, and lack of help-seeking.

Dr. Herbernick said, “I think parents are especially alarmed when they hear about these changes in sexual behavior among teens and young adults, college students, and so on. Since this was not the mainstream behavior, people currently in their 40s, 50s and 60s were those ages. And so it’s very difficult for people to believe, to even accept that this could possibly be the case.”

On February 7, Britain’s Sam Pybus applied pressure to his girlfriend Sophie Moss’ neck as they had sex at her home. She had asked him to do it before, which technically made it consensual. Mr Pybus said he was drunk when he fatally strangled the mother-of-two.

The case has been highlighted as the latest in a series of examples where men accused of murdering women have used a ‘crude sexual defence’.

It is argued that the strangled person “asked” the partner to perform the act that led to the murder, adding that the murder resulted from sexual practices to which the victim consented and possibly demanded.

Mr Pybus was sentenced to just four years and eight months after pleading guilty to manslaughter and not murder, as there was nothing to suggest he intended to kill her or cause serious harm