Many a kid has tried and many a kid has failed. Is it actually possible to hold your breath until you turn blue in the face? Here's the science behind ghastly skin tones.
We get our color from the pigments in our skin and from the red blood flowing beneath its surface. When oxygen levels drop, blood turns a darker shade of red. And if oxygen levels drop 80 percent, skin would appear blue due to how our tissues absorb and reflect light.
Though hypothetically possible, you can't turn blue out of a sheer act of will. Your body is smarter than you are and would cause you to pass out long before the oxygen level in your blood dropped enough to turn you blue. And while unconscious, you'd automatically start breathing again.
A Whiter Shade of Pale
Even in death, people don't take on a blue tint. When you die, blood stops circulating and settles down in the blood vessels at the lowest point in the body. The skin, drained of blood, appears pale and chalky.
When it comes to turning blue, it's easier said than done.
