A fundamental study on differences in heart rates during creative work and non-creative work

Abstract

We sought to clarify how creative and non-creative work influence R-R intervals. Clearly different patterns of R-R intervals were found between creative and non-creative work, with heart rate quickening during creative work and recovering during subsequent rest periods. The differences between median R-R intervals during creative work were significantly and positively related to feelings of stress, with most coefficients of greater than 0.7 (reaching as high as 0.840; P < 0.001). In contrast, the differences between R-R intervals during non-creative work were not significantly correlated with feelings of stress, and the maximum coefficient did not exceed 0.3. Therefore, it appears that variability of median R-R intervals can be used to effectively predict feelings of stress when people engage in creative work but not when they engage in non-creative work.