Can Choking During Sex Cause Brain Damage? What the Research Actually Shows (opens in new tab)

At some point—and no one sent a memo—oxygen deprivation became a form of intimacy. Not metaphorically. Literally. What used to exist at the margins of sexual culture now circulates through otherwise stable relationships, often framed as adventurous, connective, even bonding. In clinical work, this rarely appears as a crisis. It shows up as a drift—something learned elsewhere, introduced casually, normalized quickly. If you’re reading this out of curiosity, keep going. If you’re reading this b...