Bee Gee's “Stayin’ Alive” Saves Lives

Bee Gee's “Stayin’ Alive”
Provides Life Saving Beat
(by Victoria Tsigonis, Associated Press, Oct 2008)









The Bee Gee’s 1977 classic ‘Stayin Alive’ has been proven to not only be a disco anthem, but potentially could be able to save your life. According to the American Heart Association, chest compressions should be given at 100 per minutes in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Having a BPM (beats per minute) of 103, the song almost perfectly matches that needed to provide proper CPR, a technique used to save lives where a person’s breathing and/or heartbeat has stopped.

In a study conducted at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to the song helped 15 doctors and medical students perform CPR on dummies at the proper speed. "The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation,” stated Dr. David Matlock, the head doctor on the study. "Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head." According to Reuters, five weeks later the students and doctors were asked to keep the song in their heads and were once again able to keep a good pace on their dummies while performing CPR.