Witness a Marriage Proposal Measured in Heartbeats

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When Reddit user Sesipikai took a trip to Rome with his girlfriend, he had more than sightseeing on his mind—he planned to propose to his girlfriend. Like a lot of guys pre-proposal, he carried a hidden diamond ring with him while he and his girlfriend wandered around the Coliseum, waiting for the perfect moment to pop the question. He also wore a heart rate monitor.

The monitor captured the ups and downs of his nerves as he built up the courage to ask his girlfriend to be his fiancée. We turned these data points into the newest video in our Data Vizeo series.

You can see Sesipikai’s heart reach roughly 130 beats per minute (B.P.M.) just as he’s about to start proposing. He’s at his most relaxed about 10 minutes after his girlfriend says yes, falling down to around 80 B.P.M. As he noted in a comment on Reddit, “My heart rate in the office hits about 60. The whole day was walking and thinking so the mean is quite elevated.”