– If humans breathe in oxygen and exhale CO2, then why does mouth-to-mouth resuscitation work?
In: 172
You have a dollar. You go to buy a peice of candy for $0.25. You get your candy, and you also get $0.75 back.
The peice of candy is all you need, and as long as you buy it like this, you will always get most of your money back.
But one day, your friend is hungry. They skipped breakfast and now they are feeling dizzy. They need something to eat.
You need to eat, too, so you use the exact same dollar to buy your candy. Only this time, you use your leftover money to buy one for your friend as well.
You saved his life using the money you always had but never used to give him what both of you need.
When you breathe, you never use all of the oxygen. That’s the dollar. Most of it goes unused. In an emergency, you can use your leftover oxygen to help someone else.
HOWEVER
mouth to mouth isn’t taught anymore. It’s known that if someone’s heart stops, there is still enough oxygen to last them several minutes. The problem is, the brain needs it the most, and the blood isn’t moving. So the oxygen in the blood around the brain gets used up.
The key to Saving them is chest chest compressions to help the heart pump blood to get fresh blood to the brain. No breathing required.
The risk to benefit of breathing on someone’s mouth to BOTH them and you is undesirable, especially in these times of… Infection control or lack thereof.
Worry not about mouth to mouth and learn proper CPR technique.
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