The Night Clinic :
He's Breathing. Why Start CPR?
Every raspy gasp you hear in the audio represents an automatic reflex, not a real breath. The low wobbling buzz is his quivering heart, each kick is one push (this song runs at 120 beats a minute, a good CPR speed), and the lub-dub at the end is his own heartbeat coming back. (The clock, the brain oxygen bar and the x-ray are an illustration.)
What CPR does:
1️⃣ When the heart suddenly stops pumping, it often just quivers, so no blood reaches the brain. Short, irregular gasps are common in the first minutes: treat "only gasping" like "not breathing" and start CPR (American Heart Association; St John Ambulance).
2️⃣ Pushing hard and fast on the center of the chest squeezes the heart so some blood reaches the brain, and letting the chest come all the way back up lets the heart refill (AHA).
3️⃣ CPR usually can't restart the heart by itself: it buys the brain time until an AED shock can stop the quiver (AHA).
How: if someone collapses and won't wake up and isn't breathing normally, call 911 (999 in the UK) and put the phone on speaker, and send someone for an AED. Heel of one hand on the lower half of the breastbone, the other hand on top, arms straight, shoulders over your hands. Push at least 2 inches (5 cm) but not more than 2.4 inches (6 cm), 100 to 120 times a minute, and let the chest rise all the way each time. Don't stop except for the AED: turn it on and follow its voice, pads on bare skin, nobody touches him during the shock, then start pushing again right away. Keep going until he breathes normally or moves, or help takes over, and swap with someone every 2 minutes if you can. If you're trained and willing, add 2 breaths after every 30 pushes; if not, hands-only CPR is still far better than nothing.
In a study of 30,381 witnessed cardiac arrests in Sweden, 10.5% of people who got CPR before the ambulance arrived were alive 30 days later, vs 4.0% of those who didn't (NEJM, 2015).
Be honest: would you have waited, or started CPR? 👇
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2026-10-23 04:25:12