Breath play
High-risk practicesAlso known as: breath control, erotic asphyxiation, breathplay
Breath play is the restriction of breathing for erotic purposes. There is no safe way to practise it: it can cause death or brain damage. We advise against it.
Breath play refers to any practice that deliberately restricts breathing during erotic play, whether with hands, objects or pressure on the body. We cover it in this glossary because the term often comes up in ads and chats, and anyone who encounters it should know what it is and why it’s considered one of the most dangerous practices of all.
Why some people are drawn to it
The light-headedness that comes with lack of oxygen, combined with total dependence on the partner, is described by some as intense and dizzying. That is exactly the problem: what produces that sensation is the brain starting to suffer.
Safety: why we advise against it
On this point there are no shades of grey: there is no safe way to practise breath play. Not with an experienced partner, not with a safeword, not “just for a few seconds”.
- Loss of consciousness can come suddenly, without warning signs, and the person affected can no longer ask to stop.
- Pressure on the neck can cause arrhythmia and cardiac arrest, even in young and healthy people, within a very short time.
- The brain can suffer permanent damage even when the person seems to recover well.
- No technique, precaution or equipment removes these risks, and the consequences can appear even hours later.
- Doing it alone is even more dangerous, because there is no one who can step in.
The fact that both people are consenting adults doesn’t make the risk acceptable: consent doesn’t change physiology. That’s why we urge you to treat it as an absolute limit and to look for intensity in other practices, such as bondage, sensation play or psychological power play.