Waiting for a takeaway delivery causes stress and increased heart rate, scientists claim

Waiting for a takeaway delivery can lead to soaring heart rates and high blood pressure, scientists have claimed.

Scientists at the University of Wolverhampton found that heart rates shoot up from 70 to 87 beats per minute when people waited for fast food to be delivered.

An experiment conducted by Dr Martin Khechera and behavioural expert Darren Stanton saw participants fitted with heart rate monitors while waiting for a pizza delivery.

Their reactions to the wait were broken down into four stages: 'fidgety', 'anxious', 'irate' and 'lost'.

Around 10 minutes after placing their order, participants' behaviour began to enter the second stage of anxiety.

Mr Stanton said: "What we notice is that students begin to enter the stage of 'fidgeting' - finger-tapping, toe-tapping...that's the first stage.

"We see massive spikes in heart rate and blood pressure."

The experiment saw participants' heart rates drop once their pizza arrived, contradicting expectations that it would rise as they felt the joy of its arrival.

Rachel Bradshaw, Senior Brand Manager at Chicago Town Pizza, who also worked on the experiment said: "It was really interesting to work with the University of Wolverhampton and Darren on this experiment.

"Both the physiological and psychological effects clearly demonstrate that Takeaway Trauma is real, and we'll all identify with the various stages having gone through them ourselves."