Game of Thrones has gained quite the cult following throughout five seasons on HBO. Viewers get excited, experience suspense and intrigue with the plot twists, but how does that actually affect our physiology?
One researcher has provided new findings demonstrating how the series changes the heart rate in those die hard fans during different episodes.
Brandon Ballinger, a data scientist working with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, built the Apple Watch app Cardiogram that tracks a user’s heart rate during their daily activities. The things that excite us and actually change our heart rate might surprise you. For example, Ballinger is clearly a fan of burritos because when he ate one, his heart rate reportedly jumped to 120 beats per minute.
Although the implications for the app are much more focused on generally learning more about the heart, Ballinger recruited 10 users to examine how their heart rate fluctuated while watching certain episodes of Game of Thrones.
“It’s almost like a Nielsen ratings on a second-by-second basis,” Ballinger told The Wall Street Journal.
According to his research, heart rates are usually a bit higher at the start of an episode, most likely because people are moving around right before they decide to sit down and watch. But there were common plot moments in the episodes watched where heart rates clearly increased.
One episode he examined was Season Five, Episode Eight. The Wall Street Journal explained some of what he found:
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There’s a remarkable lull prior to the episode’s climactic 20-minute battle between the wildlings of Hardhome and the White Walkers. Hearts are down to 68 beats per minute as members of the Night’s Watch roll into Hardhome. And then, as the epic battle unfolds, they climb to 92 beats per minute. That’s when the terrorized wildlings head over the cliffs.
There are many apps designed to monitor heart rate, but Ballinger mentioned that those are primarily geared toward fitness. Cardiogram focuses on real-time, more detailed monitoring that can provide a different set of data.
Ultimately, the plan is for Cardiogram to be used with people who are diagnosed with heart arrhythmia and provide insights and data on heart disease for UCSF’s Health eHeart study. But this is a fun way to test out the app.
Here’s a look at the heart rate of a user viewing Season Five, Episode Nine.
Photo: Screenshot via Game of Thrones Facebook
