Re: How do different types of books affect your heart rate?

Question: How do different types of books affect your heart rate?

“I am doing a science fair project on how different types of books affect 
your 
heart rate. I am planing to have people read a paragraph or two of 
different 
types of books, and check there heart rate before, durring, and after. My 
teacher recomended that I ask you guys for information or helpful ideas on 
what 
else I should do. Thanks”

Asked by Chelsie.

Answer: The effect of reading books on the heart rate that I have presumed 
here, as the rate of heartbeat is pretty hard to tell as it involves a 
number of matters. I would like to put forward the possible factors 
involved before venturing into more details.

1. Mood of the subject. 
2. Composition, clarity and versatility of the reading material. 
3. Environment in which the experiment is taking place. 
4. Inclination of the subject towards different topics or subjects in the 
reading material. 
5. Beliefs and background of the subject. 
Now I shall discuss each cause in a bit more detail.

Cause 1.

The subject or the person who is reading the book can have different types 
of moods at the time when the experiment is conducted. Though it may be 
argued that a person’s mood can be judged by seeing his/her face, this may 
not be the case in all conditions. Besides a person himself cannot always 
describe his/her thoughts precisely. For example you might be feeling 
happy because you had a nice breakfast in the morning but you may suddenly 
remember last night’s scolding and can have a dual mood condition. Please 
note that the mood changes that we experience in our everyday life do not 
change the heart rate to a great extent unless of course it’s a critical 
case. Then how is that its going to effect your experiment. Well the 
acceptability of the material to that person depends on his mood and if is 
unable to accept the material, the experiment would be useless to perform. 
It’s like keeping an open book on your lap and dreaming about tomorrow’s 
football match.

Cause 2.

The composition of the material is also of utmost important. If it’s a 
boring material, the person will only be a passive reader which no effects 
on his mind and it turn no effect on his body. Here I would like to put 
the basic science behind the changes in heart rate or for that matter any 
physiological changes that occur when a person reads a book or watches TV. 
It is basic human nature that we always put ourselves in place of the 
protagonist. (Please note that this only happens when we put in our full 
concentration and attention). We become so involved in the material (TV 
show or book) that we almost begin to feel as if the things are happening 
to us. In other words, we get involved with the material. Considering that 
the person gets involved with the material, if the book is of horror he 
might feel a bit shivery. A very good example can be cited here. Suppose 
you sit for an exam and the moment you turn the question paper, you are 
sure that you are going to fail because you know none of the answers. What 
happens? Your hands begin to sweat and you feel chilly. The temperature 
goes down a bit. As you know we are homeothermals, so our body tends to 
maintain a constant temperature. Hence, the heart beat decreases and 
arterioles contract and the body tries to conserve heat.

Coming back to the composition of the material if the material is hard to 
understand the degree of involvement of the reader would be minimal. In a 
recent research, it was found that uttering certain words can actually 
produce direct reactions in your body. In case of clarity or versatility 
the same holds.

Cause 3.

The environment is another important factor. Too much noise won’t help. 
You won’t get the chill of horror book if you read it in your school 
compound instead of reading it in a dark room with only a table lamp on.

Cause 4.

 The subject should know a bit about the subject and should be interested 
in it. Like if you give me to read a history book, you will only be 
wasting 
your time measuring my heart beat.

Cause 5.

Its always advisable not to use religious books as beliefs and backgrounds 
vary from person to person and if that person does not comply with that 
subject , he won’t concentrate.

 

As you must have understood by now, our main goal is to make the subject 
concentrate on the material. This may be easy for an avid reader but can 
be otherwise as well. Giving the subject to read one or two paragraphs to 
read won’t help much unless ofcourse the paragraphs are very interesting 
to him/her.

Researches have been conducted on similar topics like relation of 
heartbeat to exercise. It is well known that if the material is very 
adventurous or exotic, a sudden rush of adrenaline may follow. Increasing 
heartbeat would complement this. The reaction again depends on the 
subject’s age and interest.

 

So if you conduct the experiment, (provided that the reading material is 
greatly appealing to the subject) you will most probably get different 
results for different age groups and that too will effect from person to 
person.

Well that about sums up everything I know about the topic.

 

Since, you have asked for ideas, I would like to provide this.

If I were in your place, I would have used a television or perhaps a 
computer instead of a book because seeing and hearing is more effective 
than reading. First, put the subject in a dark room with a projector. 
Measure his heartbeat (should be around 72 to 80 per minute) if he does 
not have low or high blood pressure. It is advisable not to take people 
with high blood pressure. Now play a slide show with different kinds of 
pictures (horror, funny, romantic, etc). Also, if possible, include some 
sounds with it. You will get different rates of heartbeat in each 
condition. You will also find that there is a gross difference in it for 
each age group. It is advisable that you take a number of people from each 
age group and sum up a total conclusion.

 

By,

Abhishek Dey Das.

KV (AFS), Barrackpore, India.

Website: http://deydas.co.nr.