I learnt that the purpose of CPR is to induce respiration to the body so that the heart keeps beating, why while we keep breathing the heart will automatically beat?
In: Biology
It won’t.
There are many reasons the heart may stop beating that breathing will not fix…
But without breathing the heart cannot beat because your body can’t get energy for the heart to beat (or for your brain to think, or to generally stay alive) without oxygen.
So breathing does not guarantee the heart keeps beating but *without breathing* the heart will definitely stop, so if you want to keep somebody alive breathing is one of the top priorities.
The heart will keep beating while it’s alive, even disconnected from the body. However, to continue beating it needs a constant supply of oxygen.
If the heart were to stop beating, then breathing won’t make it automatically beat…
Lots of heart function isn’t dependent on the brain and is physically near the heart. Because of that, the heart will pretty happily keep beating even as other parts of the body shut down, but it requires the lungs (providing oxygen) to run the heart muscles.
It might be helpful to clarify here that in general, if you’re performing CPR, it is because the heart has stopped beating and is unlikely to beat again on its own without medical treatment.
When you perform chest compressions, you are physically pumping their heart by hand — nothing automatic about it!
By pumping their heart, you allow oxygenated blood to circulate through their body.
Their cells will use that oxygen to survive, so you’re allowing cellular respiration to continue despite their heart failing to circulate blood on its own. Mostly the goal is to keep those brain cells going until help arrives!!
The heart, (and everything inside your body really) needs a constant supply of oxygen to “survive”. When CPR is given, we are providing their lungs with air which is turn provides their body with oxygen and keeps them alive and their heart pumping, and prevents them from getting brain damage.
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