As well as being enjoyable to listen to, the rhythm to several popular songs including Staying Alive, La Macarena and Dancing Queen, could actually save a life.
If you’ve ever learned how to do first aid, you’ll probably know that you’re supposed to evenly space out how often you do chest compressions during CPR.
As it turns out, there’s a very simply way of making sure the compressions are timed the right way.
Humming along to several songs including La Macarena has reportedly been found to help first responders to keep compressions going at the right pace.
Research carried out on 164 students discovered humming to be a potential way of helping to save a life.
The students were asked to hum along to the 1995 dance tune La Macarena while performing CPR chest compressions on a mannequin over a two-minute period.
Others were asked to use a smartphone app which makes a noise at 103 beats per minute.
A third group were given no guidance at all before being ask to perform the chest compressions.
The results of the study found that the group asked to hum La Macarena performed almost three quarters (74%) of the compressions at the recommended rate of between 100 and 120 beats per minute.
Those who used the app actually faired better, achieving 91% accuracy, but where the slowest to start the first compression.
The group who had been given no guidance faired the worst, staying within the recommended beat rate just 25% of the time.
The research was carried out at University of Barcelona, Hospital Clinic Barcelona, and Universitat Autonoma Barcelona.
As accurate as the app may be, most people probably wouldn’t have it downloaded ahead of time in an emergency situation, meaning the humming method would be the quickest way of performing CPR.
So if you were stuck without a phone and someone needed CPR, humming could help you save a life!