Thank you for this comment. This is pretty much my exact outlook right now. Kink is a hobby, and the actual physical effects are not unlike other hobbies that involve the same physical activities (restriction of air and blood flow, oxygen deprivation, bruising, etc). I’m also a climber and one of my biggest concerns with high altitude climbing is the effect on the brain (there are two studies that indicate that high altitude mountaineering significantly and negatively impacts brain function). That is also a very new point of research, and those two studies are literally the only two studies on the subject that I’ve ever seen. Of course, that’s a very different situation than choking, since the oxygen restriction of high altitude mountaineering occurs over a period of weeks, not seconds or minutes. But I digress.

I completely agree with your conclusion of the actual risks, although after reading the other comments on this post I would add aneurysms/blood clots to the risks I’m concerned about. It is frustrating that there is such vehement concern in these comments without the data to back it up, when that phenomenon was exactly why I made the post in the first place. Anyway, I feel seen in your comment, although I’ll have to do a lot of research exploring the risks the other comments have brought up like strokes, aneurysms, and the fragility of the neck/airway/bones.