--- title: Bystander CPR Can Save Lives of Cardiac Arrest Patients description: New research shows bystanders who can quickly offer CPR to a person in need can improve survival rates and positive neurological outcomes. canonical: https://time.com/3965058/bystander-cpr-how-to/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-21T15:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:29.545Z article:section: Health og:title: Why You (Yes, You) Need to Learn CPR og:description: It's really easy—and can save lives og:url: https://time.com/3965058/bystander-cpr-how-to/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You (Yes, You) Need to Learn CPR twitter:description: It's really easy—and can save lives twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why You (Yes, You) Need to Learn CPR > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=64462f22-4f49-49db-827e-41191700b57f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Daily | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Written by TIME's health desk | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Health conscious and health connected. A broad health-conscious audience with a credible institutional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### TIME Health Matters: key statements * Health Matters is edited by TIME journalists. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: The Science Of Awesome [Watch (HLS stream): The Science Of Awesome](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tmGTDYff.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2013-12-03. The Science Of Awesome_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 21, 2015 3:00 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 21, 2015 3:00 PM UTC [New research](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2015.7938) shows bystanders who offer CPR to a person in need can improve survival rates and reduce neurological issues, such as brain damage, that can result from cardiac arrest. The new study, published in the journal _JAMA_, looked at 4,961 cardiac arrest cases between the years 2010 to 2013 in North Carolina. During that time period, the state launched a campaign called The HeartRescue Project, which encourages bystander chest-compression CPR—the new gold-standard form of resuscitation—and the use of automated external defibrillators. There was a greater likelihood for both survival and survival with positive neurological outcomes among people who received CPR from a bystander. The data also shows that during the time frame, the number of people with cardiac arrest who got bystander CPR and use of defibrillators by first responders increased from around 14% in 2010 to 23.1% in 2o13\. The researchers only observed an increase in positive neurological outcomes among patients who received bystander CPR, underling the importance of the procedure. Prior research has shown chest compressions alone—which is different from the CPR many people have been taught—can save brain damage and lives. (See how to do it with [this video from the American Heart Association](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjKeTo3c2wM&feature=youtu.be).) The study is limited since it was observational, but the researchers still conclude that during the period, the number of people that received bystander CPR increased—as did their survival rates. In an email to TIME, study author Dr. Carolina Malta Hansen of the Duke Clinical Research Institute said that while they can’t give a definitive reason for the association, it’s possible that when a bystander steps in, a person receives CPR much faster than if a bystander doesn’t, and that could make a difference. [A second study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2015.8068) also published Tuesday in _JAMA_ looked at 167,912 patients with bystander-witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between 2005 and 2010\. During the time period, they found that the number of events increased, as did the rate of bystander chest compression and bystander defibrillation (many public places have defibrillators on site). Additional defibrillation from first responders also went up. The researchers also noticed an association between these higher rates and a small increase in the likelihood that people survived without neurological damage. Some of the study authors of the first study have received funding from medical device companies, and the North Carolina program was funded by the Medtronic Foundation. The researchers say the funders had no other role in the study. ## Transcript >> Feelings of awe have always been associated with feelings of spirituality or religion. It's hard to be an atheist when you're looking at the Grand Canyon. One of the reasons it's so powerfully spiritual is because, first of all, it makes us feel small. And second of all, it makes us question how the thing that's making us feel that way came to be in the first place. A new study in psychological science tried to apply the scientific method to that very unscientific phenomenon and found a creative way to do it. All of the subjects in the study were shown one of four videos. The first was a 1959 interview with Mike Wallace. >> There are very few us then in this world, by your standards, who are worthy of love. >> Unfortunately, yes. >> The second was a nature show with images and footage of animals behaving in funny or silly ways. The third were all inspiring scenes of nature from a BBC documentary and the last were surreal images of, say, waterfalls flowing down city streets. Consistently subjects who would see the inspiring or surreal videos had a greater sense of a universe that unfolds according to a master plan and had a lower tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. As a control, subjects were also asked to look at a series of randomly generated ones and twos and to decide on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely it was that the numbers have been organized either randomly by a computer or intentionally by a human being. Once again, people who had experienced awe were likelier to conclude that a human being had organized the numbers, the sense again being that there must be some designer behind the plan. The question naturally arises of course that if seen things that cause you to experience awe make you seek answers, couldn't looking at space simply make you wanna be an astronomer who are looking at the Grand Canyon make you want to be a geologist? And the answer is maybe, but the scientists aren't so sure. 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