This tip on how to survive a heart attack when you are alone has been passed on regularly by forwarded emails by well-meaning friends. I’m posting the tips here in case people have deleted their emails (which is normally the case) and are searching for this information. It is important to save a life however you can. So share this simple yet life-saving tip with your family and friends.
Victims of heart attacks can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
