Posted: January 5th, 2025

Tutorial – Positive Emotions and Heart rate variability

Purpose:              This activity allows students who have discussed the health implications of positive psychology to see an example of how positive psychology exercises affect their own physiology and provides an opportunity to discuss the meaning of these changes. Over a short (approximately 15-minute) period, students will record their resting heart rate and their heart rate in response to two positive mood-inducing activities..

Heart rate (HR) is an important measure for in diagnosing medical conditions. This is typically doneby using an electrocardiograph; however, the pulse of the heart can also be felt by simply holdingyour fingers over an artery. Resting HR is typically 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm), with low HR(below 50 bpm) or high HR (above 100 bpm) sometimes indicating health problems (e.g., heartdisease, hormone issues) or health behaviors like smoking, stimulant consumption, or drug use. LowHR is considered normal if the individual has no negative symptoms and is often found in athletes.

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HR varies with the body’s metabolic needs. For example, during exercise, HR increases greatlybecause of the increased need for oxygen and blood in the muscles. The heart responds similarly topsychological stress and other negative emotions despite the lack of increased metabolic need. (You do not need the same types of muscle activity when sitting at your desk studying for a hard exam!)More recently, researchers have also noted that positive feelings can have a beneficial impact on theheart. Specifically, some positive states result in decreased HRs that may be beneficial, particularlywhen heart activity has been heightened as a result of stress. Some arousing or activated positivestates, such as laughter, may increase HR in the short term. This is typically thought to be moresimilar to exercise, with increases being brief when compared with negative states, which producelong-lasting HR increases, and possibly chronic elevations, due to dysregulated heart function andrumination.

Step 1:  Take a baseline measure of your Heartrate by feeling your pulse with your middle and index fingerseither on the underside (ventral side) of your wrist or on the side of the neck just below the jaw(carotid artery). The thumb should not be used because of its strong pulse. As accurately as possible count how many times you feel your pulse beat in a 15-second increment.

Step 3:  Measure your Heartrate as accurately as possibly by counting how many times you feel your pulse beat in a 15-second increment.Once this number is obtained, multiply that number by 4 to obtain the total bpms.

Step 5:  Measure your Heartrate as accurately as possibly by counting how many times you feel your pulse beat in a 15-second increment.Once this number is obtained, multiply that number by 4 to obtain the total bpms.

Figure 1.1. Line graph of heart rate by activity type.

We recommend that you do weekly reflective journal entries, but you are not required to submit these. Write one to two paragraphs each week reflecting on the tutorial learning activities. We suggest you use the Describe, Interpret, and Outcome process for your weekly reflections.

Reflect on the tutorial task. Discuss how you reacted to the task and whether your reaction was informed by your previous experiences or theories discussed in lectures.

Conclude with what you have learned from the tutorial task. You will need to reflect not only on WHAT you learnt from the learning activity, but also HOW the process of undertaking the task helped you to consolidate, modify or adapt professional behaviours and HOW this learning will inform YOUR professional practice in the future.

Clark, A., Seidler, A., & Miller, M. (2001). Inverse association between sense of humor and

coronary heart disease. International Journal of Cardiology, 80, 87–88.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the

cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 12, 191–220.

Kubzansky, L. D., & Thurston, R. C. (2007). Emotional vitality and incident coronary heart disease:

Benefits of healthy psychological functioning. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 1393–1401.

Miller, M., & Fry, W. F. (2009). The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system.

Pressman, S. D., & Cohen, S. (2005). Does positive affect influence health? Psychological Bulletin,

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