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GreenHandbag2 t1_j9eep78 wrote

Reply to comment by Lilweedoholic in How and why does asphyxiation induce euphoria? by Ausoge

Why does it release "happy chemicals", evolutionary shouldn't it be the opposite? if you're not getting enough air your body should logically panic and attempt to get more oxygen instead of inducing a state of happiness.

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screen317 t1_j9epak8 wrote

Evolution works at the population level to ensure genes get passed down to the next generation. The deadly genetic causes of asphyxiations as children have already been selected out.

As a general note, evolution has no goals and doesn't guarantee "better" over time.

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GreenHandbag2 t1_j9eqave wrote

Surely people that get pleasure out of asphyxiation would not have the same ability so survive as those who do not, some migth even intentionally asphyxiate themselves. Or is this a scenario when enough time hasn't passed for the gene to evolve away?

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Terrorfrodo t1_j9f655v wrote

The vast majority of people who might potentially get enjoyment out of the practice will never know it because they will never try. Evolutionary speaking, 99.9% of people over 99.9% of human history have been too busy surviving to experiment with how they can *almost* kill themselves for fun.

All the cases I heard from where people died after doing this, the person was very bored, without purpose in life, and mentally ill.

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garry4321 t1_j9kknzh wrote

Youre REALLY kink shaming BDSM people arent you?

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xtrapas t1_j9xbgu1 wrote

that kung-fu fighter dude (tzhe old one) carradine

wikipedia says it in different words (hmm, it changed again) but i remember

"carradine dead. in the cupboard, wank-related accident"

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ecksate t1_j9ffihb wrote

Maybe when it comes to choking yourself, the cons outweigh the pros. You aren't so fixated on happy chemicals that you're sitting there asphyxiating for pleasure, right? So why would any other humans do it?

The gene would only evolve away with certainty if it affected survival, which would require a large part of the population to have choked themselves for fun and died from it until there were a few people who didn't enjoy it and therefore didn't die.

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Mississimia t1_j9f61c3 wrote

Yogis have been intentionally asphyxiating themselves for thousands of years. It brings a lot of health benefits, namely carbon dioxide tolerance, when done mindfully.

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