Want to save someone's life? Learn "Staying Alive"

Danny Tse

Now you have no excuse not to know the song....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.

The American Heart Association calls for chest compressions to be given at a rate of 100 per minute in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). "Stayin' Alive" almost perfectly matches that, with 103 beats per minute.

CPR is a lifesaving technique involving chest compressions alone or with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. It is used in emergencies such as cardiac arrest in which a person's breathing or heartbeat has stopped.

CPR can triple survival rates, but some people are reluctant to do it in part because they are unsure about the proper rhythm for chest compressions. But research has shown many people do chest compressions too slowly during CPR.

In a small study headed by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to "Stayin' Alive" helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform chest compressions on dummies at the proper speed.

Five weeks after practicing with the music playing, they were asked to perform CPR again on dummies by keeping the song in their minds, and again they kept up a good pace.

"The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation," Matlock said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head."

The findings will be presented this month at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago.

obieone

Now, what are the f*cking odds of that coincidence?!
Too bad they didn't go into detail with ratio of compressions vs. breaths. IIRC, its 15 to 1?

John30_30

Haha! Danny, you left off the best part- my wife was telling me about that article the other day. They're recommending that one for 1st Aid Classes that the students actually sing along and get the tune in their heads because it's so easy to physically replicate the beat, as the article quotes.

The part that's left out is the other song that worked best, but was discarded for obvious reasons was Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust".

bobman1235

Now if only they would start teaching more kids CPR and basic life-saving in high school.