Official News page 9

REAL LIFE NEWS: BEE GEE LIFE-SAVER

by Hazed

The Bee Gees hit disco classic Staying Alive is apparently very aptly named, because US medics have found out that its beat is at the ideal speed to follow to perform chest compressions on a cardiac arrest victim.

The 103 beats per minute song, which had many people attempting to imitate John Travolta on the dancefloor back in the 1980s, is close to the recommended rate of 100 chest compressions per minute.

Dr Matlock of the American Heart Association said that many people were put off from trying to perform CPR as they were not sure about keeping the correct rhythm. This is bad news, because CPR can triple cardiac arrest survival rates when performed properly.

A study by the University of Illinois College of Medicine instructed 15 doctors and students to perform CPR on mannequins while listing to the song, and to time their chest compressions with the beat.

Before you have visions of paramedics plugging in their iPods to accompany their CPR efforts, it may not be necessary; the memory of the song is enough. Five weeks later the doctors and students did the same drill without the music, but were told to think of the song while doing the compressions. It worked, and their average times were slightly higher than recommended but that's better than doing too few.

"It drove them and motivated them to keep up the rate, which is the most important thing," Dr Matlock told the press.

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