Science and Health
Researchers say 'Nellie the Elephant' might rescuers keep your heart going
(China Daily/Reuters)
Updated: 2009-12-15 08:33
LONDON: Humming to upbeat songs like Nellie the Elephant while compressing the chest of a heart attack victim could improve a life-saving heart resuscitation technique, scientists said on Monday.
A study into cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training found that listening to music with the right tempo helped people keep to a rate of 100 chest compressions per minute - the rate recommended in expert guidelines.
CPR is a potentially life-saving technique that can be taught to people with no other medical skills. It can double heart attack survival rates if it is carried out on a patient one to two minutes before emergency services arrive.
Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Coventry and Hertfordshire in Britain gave 130 untrained volunteers a brief demonstration on a resuscitation mannequin.
The participants had one minute to practice while listening to a metronome and were then asked to perform three sequences of one minute of continuous chest compressions while listening on headphones to the songs Nellie the Elephant, by Little Bear, and That's the Way (I Like It), by KC and the Sunshine Band.
The songs were chosen for their tempo, the researchers wrote in the study in the British Medical Journal. Nellie the Elephant has 105 beats per minute and That's the Way has 106.
