If you've ever taken a CPR class, you probably heard your instructor mention "Staying Alive" or "Another One Bites the Dust" as songs you can sing while performing chest compressions. You might have thought it was just a myth, but it's totally true!
So let's start with the basics — what exactly is CPR? The American Heart Association explains: "CPR – or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation – is an emergency lifesaving procedure performed when the heart stops beating. Immediate CPR can double or triple chances of survival after cardiac arrest."
The reason CPR is important is because it keeps the blood pumping through the body, which makes it possible for trained medical staff to resuscitate the person afterward.
Even if you've never taken a class or learned anything about CPR, you can still help in an emergency situation — and you might even save someone's life. To perform untrained CPR, you have to do compressions at 100 beats per minute.
If you've never been trained in CPR, you can still perform compressions to keep someone's blood flowing. You should do these compressions at 100 beats per minute.
It just so happens that many songs are also performed at a rate of 100 beats per minute.
Julia Reinstein tweeted about taking a CPR class. The hospital that trained her even has a playlist of songs that are 100 beats per minute — perfect for performing CPR.
Some of the songs on the list include Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" and the All-American Rejects' "Gives You Hell."
People absolutely loved the list of songs; in fact, the tweet got over 109,000 likes and 45,000 retweets.
Some people joked about the playlist, but it's actually very helpful.
Most people don't know what 100 beats per minute sounds like, until you put it into song terms.
Even medical professionals admitted they use these songs to keep the beat in their heads while performing CPR!
A lot of people responded to Julia's tweet asking about other songs.
Basically any song with 100 beats per minute can work — and there are a lot out there!
Just to clarify, you shouldn't spend time pulling up this playlist if someone is in distress — just think of whichever of these songs you know best and hum it to yourself.
Learning to perform CPR is easy. Many organizations offer classes and have information online about the CPR steps.
Which song would you use if you ever had to perform CPR?
If you want to learn more about performing CPR, consider taking a class!
