Cardiac massage saves lives. The British Heart Foundation has revealed the ideal music to hum to achieve compressions at the right pace.
Cardiac massage is a resuscitation gesture that saves lives, in the event of cardiac arrest and while waiting for help. But you still need to know how to do it correctly. International recommendations are clear: to properly perform a cardiac massage, it is necessary to perform between 100 and 120 chest compressions per minute, which corresponds to approximately 2 compressions per second. A fast pace which can be difficult to maintain for non-professional “witness-rescuers”. So for maintain the cadence and do the movements at the right time, the doctors of the British Heart Foundation suggest, in an advertising campaign broadcast on TV (clip below), to hum or sing in his head a song known to all with the ideal tempo: it is about Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees (103 bpm). This title would also be used during exercises during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid courses.
A playlist of 58 other songs for choice
A New York hospital went further and created on Spotify a playlist of songs called “Songs to do CPR to” allowing to follow the right tempo for a cardiopulmonary resuscitation. From 58 songs which appear there:
- “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga
- “Sorry” by Justin Bieber
- “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor
- Abba’s “Dancing Queen”
- “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper
Do a cardiac massage in 5 steps
The Red Cross reminds the steps to do a good cardiac massage, to be practiced only if the person is unconscious and does not/or does not breathe normally:
- Place the victim on a hard surface, usually on the ground. Kneel beside of the victim. Place the heel of one of your hands in the middle of his bare chest. Place the heel of the other hand on your first hand.
- Join your two hands together. Do not press on the ribs or the lower part of the sternum. Position yourself so that your shoulders are directly above the victim’s chest. Arms outstretched, vertically compress the sternum by pushing it in 5 to 6 cm.
- After each pressure, allow the victim’s chest to return to its initial position to allow blood to return to the heart. Hold your hands in position on the sternum. The duration of compression should be equal to that of the release of pressure from the chest.
- Perform 30 chest compressions at a frequency of 100-120 per minuteor approximately 2 compressions per second (at the rate of Stayin’ Alive for example).
- Then practice 2 breaths using the mouth-to-mouth technique.