Maybe you've been attacked by an evil serial
killer. Maybe you've just got some spare time, a closet,
and a leather belt on your hands. Either way, today we're going to save your
life by teaching you how to survive being strangled. You might already know this from our videos
on how to survive a stab wound, or how to survive being shot, but the first step of
surviving being strangled is to not get strangled in the first place. Why do we bring this up? Because strangulation is one of the go-to
ways for deranged serial killers to end the lives of their victims. Often it's a power fantasy, strangling is
quite literally holding someone's life in your hands and slowly squeezing it out of
them. So pay attention to your surroundings, especially
if you're a woman and it's late at night. Even more specifically if you're a woman plus
a person of color from a low socio-economic background who's odds of being the victim
of a serial killer are statistically greater than anybody else. Why? Because of the 'less dead' phenomenon - where
people with incomes below the poverty line and minorities have throughout history been
considered 'less dead' by a society that barely considered them to exist while they were alive,
and thus police don't work quite as hard to find their killer. Their deaths tend to slip beneath the public
radar, and only if the crime is particularly gruesome will you find them on the front page
even today. Killers know this, so they target these populations. People without homes and those engaging in
especially risky and often non-legal professions are particularly vulnerable to serial killers. But it’s not just the most defenseless and
exposed who are at risk. Literally anyone can find themselves stalked
by a serial killer. So avoid letting that deranged maniac wrapping
their hands around your throat in the first place by being aware of your surroundings. Has that stranger been traveling in your same
direction for a few minutes? Maybe you're going the same way- or maybe
they're plotting how to best watch the light fade from your eyes. Try making a random turn and see if they follow. Or you could cross the street, and see if
they do the same. If someone is mirroring you for one or two
random turns or street crossings, odds are good that they're following you. Immediately get to somewhere public, or make
a loud enough ruckus that you draw attention to yourself. Serial killers need anonymity and privacy
to be successful, and if a victim is drawing attention to them or themselves, it's going
to spook one away. But what if the worst comes to worst, and
that maniac has ambushed you and is getting ready to choke you to death? First, how does strangulation even kill? Pretty simply really- a good choke hold can
stop you from drawing air into your lungs, which will eventually suffocate you and lead
to you passing out. Interestingly though, strangulation is rarely
enough to actually kill- typically after someone is strangulated, death comes by some other
means, as you can survive a few minutes without oxygen. Most people will experience an automatic breath
reflex that kicks in even after they've been knocked unconscious by a lack of air, and
if your attacker isn't continuously choking off your air, you can self-resuscitate. To ensure a good kill, a strangler really
needs to hold their stranglehold on your neck for a few minutes at least. If you're not dead by then you'll have suffered
so much brain damage you might as well be. So how to survive a strangulation? First, fight. In our modern civilized society we don't have
much need for our old fight or flight instincts that kept us alive on the savannas of Africa,
but you can bet bottom dollar that in a life or death scenario those evolutionary instincts
will come screaming back to the forefront of your mind. But running isn't an option- though if it
ever is an option, do it. Every self defense expert in the world, at
least the good ones, will always teach you that running away is the best option. In fact, unless you're a professional fighter,
any self-defense you learn should be focused on opening up an opportunity to run, not to
defeat your opponent. Your body will release a jolt of adrenaline,
and you need to lean into that. Once your air has been cut off, you'll have
upwards of a minute if you're in good shape to still be able to fight back. If you're not in good physical shape then
we've got really bad news for you, you might only have as little as 15 seconds before it's
lights out for you. If you ever needed a motivator to exercise,
maybe not getting murdered will do it for you. With the release of adrenaline your muscles
are going to get a massive boost, unfortunately without oxygen feeding them though you're
on very borrowed time. Your body will also release natural pain killers
though to suppress any wounds you've already suffered, or might in the course of the fight
for your life. Now it's time to lean into these natural advantages. First, whether your attacker is coming at
you from the front or behind, you need to pay attention to Wu-tang and tuck your chin
down to protect your neck as best you can. With your chin in the way, it'll make it very
difficult for an attacker to actually get their hands around your neck, or their arm
if trying to put you in a traditional choke hold. If your attacker is coming at you from behind,
once they're physically close to you there's a few options to defend yourself- and you'll
want to try them all. First, if you happen to be wearing particularly
sharp heels, or perhaps are a very heavy person, a foot stomp can be surprisingly effective
at making someone disengage. To do this, lift your foot up and place it
over theirs, then use the heel of your foot to stomp down on their foot as hard as you
possibly can. Using the heel will make the total contact
area on their foot much smaller, which means you're delivering much more force into a smaller
area, maximizing damage. A good foot stomp versus someone that isn't
wearing protective footwear can even crush bone. If the foot stomp doesn't do it, a heel strike
to the shin just might. Have you ever banged your shin against a coffee
table by accident? It hurts worse than the crushing despair of
your student loan debts. Now imagine someone kicking your shin with
their heel as hard as they possibly can. But you can always try to aim a few inches
higher, and go for the knee. Knees are surprisingly fragile, and a good
knee strike will absolutely ruin your day. You'll want to kick backwards with your foot
flat, striking the knee head on. This time you actually want to maximize the
striking area because you want to strike as much of the knee as possible. While you likely won't break a knee cap, you
can cause serious damage to the ligaments. With enough force, you could actually cause
the knee to bend in the wrong direction. If your strangler is still choking you out
after that he's seriously committed to the effort. Your elbows can be very effective tools as
well- in fact many martial arts will teach newcomers to strike with their elbows rather
than their fists, and with good reasons. A badly formed punch can hurt you more than
the other person, and elbows might feel funny if they take a hit the wrong way, but are
pretty tough. Plus you can put a lot of force behind an
elbow. With your attacker behind you, your best bet
would be to aim for kidneys. This is a notoriously painful area to take
a hit in, and a strike with enough force will actually cause devastating internal bleeding. With your attacker behind you, this is probably
going to be the easiest area to strike at too. Now it's time to get dirty. In a fight for survival, there's no rules,
and it's time to get downright primitive. The ears are often overlooked- unless you're
Mike Tyson- but are an extremely vulnerable part of the body to attack. Reach up behind you and grab those ears, then
pull downwards as hard as you possibly can. Imagine that you're going to tear the ears
off- that's how hard you should be pulling. If they're wearing jewelry like ear rings,
great, rip them off and then keep pulling. It's best if you can secure a hold by wrapping
your entire hand over the top of the ear, rather than tugging at the bottom as you can
easily lose your grip that way. If you can reach, partner up your ear tears
with some bites on your attacker's arms or hands as they choke you. In fact, anytime your attacker puts any part
of their body near your mouth, bite. The jaw muscle is one of the strongest in
the body, capable of even crushing bone. Make your attacker pay dearly and rip chunks
of flesh out of him if that's what it takes. What if your attacker is coming at you from
the front though? The knee and shins are once again perfect
targets, but you're going to need room to get a good kick in. Grab your attacker's hands and pull downwards,
then take a step backwards with your strong leg. This will give you some room to get a good,
strong kick going, but also pull your strangler slightly forward and put them slightly off
balance. Then deliver a kick as hard as you can with
your strong leg, ideally straight into the knee cap. This type of kick has a very strong probability
of shattering a knee cap, or at the very least causing so much damage that they're' going
to need medical help to repair it. But don't stop there, as long as you can manage
it, continue kicking. There's no such thing as overkill, and as
long as your attacker is leaving themselves open, continue striking. Keep in mind that everything we've listed
so far are options- there are no perfect scenarios where you can follow a step-by-step guide
for disabling an attacker, so everything we're teaching you should go into a toolbox, and
you should pull out the proper tool for the proper job. Another tool to add to your toolbox is a good
knee strike, though this time it'll be your knee doing the striking. An attacker trying to choke you out from the
front is leaving his entire front unguarded and exposed, and a good knee strike here will
wreck someone's day. The most obvious target is the groin, and
for good reason. Whether you're a man or a woman, the area
that brings us the greatest physical pleasure, also brings us crippling pain. You're going to need room for a good groin
strike though, and you can achieve this by either putting your hands against their chest
and pressing back, or taking a step back with your strong leg like with the kick to the
kneecap. Having a lot of room will help you build up
velocity with your knee, which in turn equates to more kinetic energy. Bring your knee smashing into their Spongebob
and square pants as hard as you can, and if once doesn't do the trick, repeat as necessary. The good thing about being attacked from the
front, is that your attacker is very kindly presenting a whole host of vulnerabilities
for you to exploit. Remember what we said about fighting dirty? Well, we're going to get downright filthy. First we'll start with the throat. If someone's trying to choke you out, why
not repay the favor? A good throat strike can be lethal, with enough
force to the front of the throat you can actually collapse the trachea. At the very least, you're going to stun them
and knock the breath out of them, which can open up an opportunity to escape or continue
your assault. Next, we're back to the ears- which you're
welcome to grab once more and tear downwards. However, if your hands are free you can do
one better. Bring both hands out to your sides and stick
your palms out the way you would if you were preparing to execute a palm strike. Then bring your arms in as hard and fast as
you can, landing a devastating palm strike to both your attacker's ears. Not only is this incredibly painful, but can
ring someone's head, stunning them. However, if you aim directly behind the ears
you can actually strike a part of the skull that will cause a reverberation in the head,
and with enough force instantly KO an opponent. This sweet spot is approximately an inch and
a half behind the ear hole. Let's talk noses. They're weird when you think about it, sort
of like flesh chimneys. But they're also easy to break and very painful
to get hit on. If your arms are free, lift your hands up
above your head, but this time wrap your fists together to perform a hammer strike. Then bring that hammer down directly onto
the bridge of the nose of your attacker as hard as you can. Unless your attacker has been in several nose-breaking
fist fights, the shock should be enough to at least weaken his strangulation attempt. But let's talk about this script writer's
personal favorite- the eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul,
and we're going to break some windows and claw that soul right out of your attacker's
skull. Warning- eye gouging isn't for the faint of
heart, and is a move you better be completely dedicated to executing. If your attacker recovers from a half-hearted
eye gouge, well if they didn't want to kill you before they definitely will now. Wrap your hands around your opponents head,
with your thumbs over their eyes. Then apply inward pressure as hard as you
can. Ideally you want to try and maneuver each
thumb towards the inside of the eye, close to where the eye meets the nose, or on the
opposite side, rather than straight on. This way as you apply full pressure, your
thumb will follow the curve of the eye and guided by the eye socket, slip inside the
socket itself- this is actually how they used to conduct lobotomies. Your goal is simple- crush the eyes or gouge
them out. With enough pressure inwards, the eye will
actually begin to hemorrhage, which will lead to at minimum temporary blindness. However, if your thumb can slide inside, you
can apply sideways pressure that will actually pop the eye out of the socket entirely. At that point if your attacker is still choking
you, grab the eye and yank it downwards. Eyes can actually be popped out of their socket
by accident and remain attached by the optic nerve. By yanking downwards you can tear the eye
free of the optical nerve and permanently blind your attacker. Eye gouging is pretty much a one-way street. There's no way to 'moderately' eye gouge someone-
once you're executing an eye gouge you're going to be causing permanent harm, so be
sure it's a life or death scenario before resorting to this technique. Now check out How To Survive a Home invasion,
or click this other video instead!
