Music You Can Save a Life To...
Ever have a Bee Gees song stuck in your head and you just can't get it out? Well, if you are an EMT, that just might be a good thing.
According to researchers, the 103 beats per minute in the ever classic "Stayin' Alive" provides the perfect rhythm for performing CPR. "Stayin' Alive" isn't just a song anymore--it's a means to keepin' alive--hum along to that 1977 disco hit and you can be the perfect lifesaver.
As described on MSNBC.com, a small study done at University of Illinois Chicago found that 10 docs and 5 med students who listened to the tune while doing CPR did it perfectly. How this occurred to these researchers, one may never know.
And how many more songs out there that are catchy and in the minds of every American are 103 beats per minute? Well, our fearless editor-in-chief of AJOB, Glenn McGee, who would more often rather than not hide the fact that he was once a DJ, has told me that one could "beat" patients back into existence with the following songs: "The Macarena" by Los Del Rio, "Crash" by Dave Matthews, "Luekenbach, Texas" by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls.
One has to wonder: can the Time Life music series "Songs to Save a Life By" be far behind?
Summer Johnson, PhD
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And here's how to do Hands Only CPR.
- by Karama Neal on Oct 20, 2008 at 9:28 AM | link