How to Do CPR - Update!

For 50 years, CPR has been performed the same way: quick breaths into the victim's mouth, followed by chest compressions in a repeated cycle to get the heart beating again. But in recent years, studies have shown that doing away with rescue breathing and using chest compressions alone may be just as effective, if not more so, in resuscitating victims of cardiac arrest. That's why the American Heart Association is updating its guidelines and urging both trained and untrained rescuers to start with the compressions and either eliminate or delay mouth-to-mouth breathing in cases when a victim's heart has stopped.

There are both social and medical reasons for the shift. About a third of people who collapse from cardiac arrest never receive CPR, largely because bystanders are unsure or squeamish about delivering it the right way. Streamlining the procedure to include only compressions - which should be firm enough to depress the chest by about 2 inches (5 cm) - could make it easier for more people to attempt resuscitation.

Medically, say experts, the body has enough oxygen to function for a few minutes after the heart stops, so using compressions to restore its pumping action should be the priority.

This article is from the Nov 1 Time Magazine by Alice Park.

Heart Disease is the number one killer of women. All adults should take CPR classes or learn how to do CPR. You never know when you will need it to possibly save the life of a loved one.
I just finished my class and realized I should have do it years ago. It makes you feel like you have the knowledge to help another in an emergency.

To Your Health,
Leigh