On a relaxing Sunday afternoon, the most protected man in the world found himself in a sudden life-or-death battle – right inside his own private quarters...
President George W. Bush was enjoying the NFL playoff game on TV, with a snack in hand. And then the attack happened...
His foe began choking him, pressing on a nerve. And then everything went black.
When Bush came to, he was lying on the floor. He was able to get up and call for a nurse to get checked out. And he escaped unscathed, save for a bruised lip and scrape on the face.
His assailant?
A piece of pretzel. As he choked on it, the pretzel triggered an episode of vasovagal syncope – a temporary drop in heart rate which caused him to faint.
Luckily, the pretzel never fully obstructed his airway. But the incident highlighted a terrifying reality...
Even the most protected man on the planet was completely alone in that room when disaster struck.
As it turns out, we're more likely to die from choking on food than from an airplane crash.
If a loved one's airway is partially blocked, he or she may be able to cough out the offender. And, by all means, if this happens, do not give them water – it'll make things worse.
Otherwise, you have just four minutes to get that piece of food dislodged before your loved one suffers brain damage or, worse, dies.
But what if you're at home... alone... and you start choking?
If I've unlocked a new fear for you, good... because you need to know exactly what to do in those four minutes to save your own life.
According to the National Safety Council, choking ranked as the fourth-leading cause of accidental deaths in 2022. And 5,553 Americans died from choking that year.
You might think most of those cases are young kids. After all, they have small airways (plus that tendency to experiment with putting random objects in their mouths).
But as it turns out, elderly folks aged 75 and up accounted for nearly 52% of those deaths.
The older we get, the higher our risk of experiencing issues like having missing teeth and/or dentures that keep us from thoroughly chewing food. Our bodies' natural defense ability, the gag reflex, also tends to weaken.
Health problems common in old age can mess with the complex interplay between our nerves, brain, and skeletal muscles. For instance, a stroke, head and neck cancer, Parkinson's disease, and dementia can all lead to dysphagia, which is the fancy term for having trouble swallowing.
In fact, a 2025 National Health and Aging Trends Study found that up to 10.2% of older adults report difficulty swallowing. What's more, researchers found that these issues are often transient, coming and going depending on changes in health, injury, or side effects from medications.
So even if you've never had trouble swallowing before, a sudden health shift can put you at immediate risk.
And then there's the fact that roughly 27% of older Americans are living alone. You're as good as dead if you live alone and don't know what to do if you start choking.
Don't just buy one of those anti-choking devices and declare yourself "safe." You need to know a few simple steps to save your life. Knowing them well means you're more likely to remember them in the moment of panic...
What to Do If You're Alone and Choking
- Call 911. Even if you can't make out a single word, the dispatcher will still send help. It also pays to be familiar with the built-in "Emergency SOS" shortcut on your smartphone so you'll know the exact swiping and/or tapping steps you'll need to perform to call for help.
- Make one fist and press it between the bottom of your rib cage and your belly button.
- Cover that fist with the other hand. Then give a big thrust inward and upward. The large amount of pressure should hopefully force air out of your lungs to pop out the object causing the blockage.
- If you have trouble moving your arms, find the edge of a chair, table, or railing – whatever is at the same height as where your fists would go. Lean over that edge and slam your torso forward.
You might recognize these steps as the classic Heimlich maneuver. But recently, the American Red Cross put out their updated guidelines on how to help someone who's choking. And it adds a new step...
How to Help Someone Who Is Choking
- Call 911 immediately or have someone nearby call. If you're alone, put the call on speaker so you can start giving aid.
- Have the person lean slightly forward as you stand slightly to their side.
- Give five back blows using the heel of your hand to strike between the shoulder blades.
- Then move behind them to give five abdominal thrusts.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the object pops out, the person can breathe, or first responders arrive.
Now, want a way to avoid ever having to use these tips in the first place?
It's Not a Hot-Dog Eating Contest
The slower you lift that fork to your mouth, the more multipronged benefits you'll see:
- All the extra chewing and saliva mean that the potentially deadly piece of food gets crushed into a much-easier-to-swallow (and digest) slurry.
- You give your stomach enough time to send signals to your brain that you're full – before you eat too many calories.
- You have a chance to eat mindfully, where you're focusing on the present moment. That means focusing on all of the wonderful textures, flavors, and smells.
- Your mindful eating also helps your tongue feel around for and weed out dangers like, say, a sharp fish bone or another hard object that could crack your tooth or cause expensive dental work.
- Avoid making TV dinners a habit. That's practically a requirement for mindful eating. You don't want a distraction from savoring your meal.
- Also, keep your smartphone out of reach when trying to eat mindfully. You'll have one less distraction and will avoid its germ-riddled surface.
- (After all, you'd be defeating the purpose of your premeal handwashing by touching your phone – which can be teeming with 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. On average, we check our phones nearly 50 times a day. Don't let any of those times be during your meals.)
Know these techniques. They could save someone's life... or your own.
P.S. Bush's choking incident ended with a sudden, unexpected fall to the floor. But for older adults, the same tumble is one of the greatest threats to their independence.
It doesn't have to be, though... While most folks focus on cardio and strength training, they might be neglecting the "third pillar" of fitness that's key to staying on your feet – and out of the hospital – as you age. I covered it last week in my Retirement Millionaire newsletter. If you're not already a subscriber, click here to start today.
What We're Reading...
- Something different: Did St. Patrick really drive the snakes out of Ireland?
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
March 17, 2026