If you’re using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), chances are, you’re in a pretty stressful situation—someone’s life is at risk due to a pulmonary or cardiac event. But being prepared by listening to this handy Spotify playlist could save someone’s life.
If you were a camp counselor or a lifeguard, you probably know basic CPR: You place your hands on the chest of the person in need, one hand over the other, and press firmly but carefully in the rhythm of a heartbeat. BuzzFeed reports that “immediate CPR can double or triple chances of survival after cardiac arrest,” according to the American Heart Association.
The theory is simple. Actually performing CPR, however, is much more challenging. There is a risk of placing the hands in the wrong spot, of pushing too hard and cracking a rib or of not maintaining the correct rhythm. There are training videos online that can help with all of these—the heel of the palm should be placed on the lower half of the breastbone, according to a CPR training video, and you should press down “at least two inches” per compression. All of these standards are for an adult—children and infants have their own set of hyper-specific guidelines.
The challenge of maintaining the correct rhythm has a simpler solution than you might think, as BuzzFeed reporter Julia Reinstein found out on Tuesday.
Reinstein tweeted about the playlist on Oct. 9, saying “I learned how to do CPR today so now I know how to save your life.”
“More importantly,” the tweet continues, “I found out New York Presbyterian Hospital maintains a Spotify playlist of songs that are the right beat to time CPR compressions to and it is on point.”
https://twitter.com/juliareinstein/status/1049841252907307008
If you’ve seen the episode of The Office where Michael Scott times his compressions to “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, you’re already familiar with the concept. “Stayin’ Alive” has the perfect tempo for CPR, but there are dozens of other tunes that can help keep you on beat. The playlist sports catchy tracks, from the All-American Rejects’s “Gives You Hell,” to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” and even ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.”
The AHA website says, “in one year alone, 475,000 Americans die from a cardiac arrest.” People are far more likely to remember the correct compression rhythm, according to the site, when they are trained to do so to the beat of a popular song.
Using this playlist, anyone can easily remember the right tempo and keep that blood pumping at the right pace. When was the last time a Spotify playlist was an actual lifesaver?
H/T BuzzFeed
