<< Pulse Rate >>

A rise in pulse rate is one of the most obvious and widely recognized results of a mammal’s reaction to tactile stimulation or to any sort of erotic stimulation. Such changes in pulse rate are probably an invariable outcome of sexual arousal, although we cannot be certain of this until more extensive studies are made. Unfortunately, exact measurements of these changes are rare in the literature, although they could easily be obtained with automatic recording devices.
Such an increase in pulse rate is widely recognized in the literature, as in: Roubaud 1876:16. Caufeynon 1903:57. Bloch 1908:49. Talmey 1912:61; 1915:92. Krafft-Ebing 1922:40. Kisch 1926:288, 344. Bauer 1927(1):154. Van de Velde 1930:245. Dickinson 1933, 1949:fig. 126. Havelock Ellis 1936 (11,1):149, 151. Haire 1937:200. Reich 1942:82. Podolsky 1942:49. Sadler 1944:41. Negri 1949:97. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:234, 237. Ford and Beach 1951:244-246. Stone and Stone 1952:173.

Figures 120f-121f. Heart rate in human female and male
during sexual activity

Showing erotic responses before, during, and after coitus between husband and wife.
The female had four orgasms. Data from Boas and Goldschmidt 1932.

The few records which are available on the human animal indicate that a pulse which normally runs at something between 70 and 80 per minute may be raised to as much as 150 or more when there is erotic arousal, and particularly if the reaction proceeds to the point of orgasm.
Precise measurements on the increase in pulse rate during arousal are few. Mendelsohn 1896:381-384 reproduces graphs of the pulse of human males and females before, during, and after coitus, showing a maximum pulse of 150. Boas and Goldschmidt 1932:99-100 record pulses in human coitus reaching points between 128 and 146 in four consecutive orgasms in a human female, and a pulse of 143 at orgasm in a male. Gantt 1944:128-129, and Gantt in Hoch and Zubin 1949:44, graph the pulses of three male dogs, showing increases at orgasm more marked than those found under other emotional situations. Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950a:953-956; 1950b:61-66, report on one human male and one female who masturbated to orgasm, finding a maximum pulse of 142 at orgasm in the male, while the female's normal pulse of 63 rose to something between 85 and 97 in five successive orgasms. Polatin and Douglas (ms. 1951) record spontaneous orgasm in a female with a pulse rising from 60 to 140 at orgasm.

This may approach the pulse rate of an athlete during his maximum effort, or that of a man involved in heavy labor. But sometimes the rise is less than this.
Pulse rates during violent exertion are given in; Boas and Goldschmidt 1932:83, 91. Robinson 1938:253-266. Hoff in Howell (Fulton edit.) 1949:661-663. Houssay et al. 1951:475, 481. Pulses in violent exercise varied between 160 and 195 among boys, and 160 to 170 in adults. The maximum pulses of 10 young men ranged from 182 to 208 while running on a treadmill.

Figures 122f-123f. Heart rate in human female
in five consecutive orgasms

The female masturbated to orgasm by fantasy alone, without genital manipulation.
Data from Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950.

Figures 124f-125f. Heart rate in human male in orgasm

Orgasm reached in manual masturbation;
the right figure shows the detail of the aftereffects following orgasm.
Data from Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950.

There is considerable individual variation in this regard, and there may be variation in the same individual on different occasions. We have records which show that an individual whose pulse ordinarily rises to 150 or more during maximum arousal, and who normally does not experience orgasm unless his pulse reaches that height, may sometimes reach orgasm after a less intense experience during which his pulse does not rise above 100. Fatigue, starvation, ill health, psychologic blockages and distractions, and other factors may account for the occasionally lower rates at the time of orgasm. There are similar data on the rise in pulse rate among some other animals, including dogs, during sexual activity.

Figures 126f-128f Heart rate in three male dogs during sexual activity.

Data from Gantt 1944, and Gantt in Hoch and Zubin 1949.

This rise in pulse rate is one of the products of sexual response which many persons may observe in themselves and in their sexual partners. Consequently this has provided one means for determining the nature of the experience of the subjects of the present study. There has been doubt on the part of some persons whether all females are able to recognize erotic arousal, and whether all of them could correctly report their experience for the present study. To those of us who have done the interviewing, this apprehension has seemed for the most part unnecessary. It is impossible to believe that any male would ever be unconscious of the fact that he was aroused sexually, even if he did not have a penis to bear testimony to that effect; and neither does there appear to be any uncertainty in the minds of most women as to whether or when or where they have responded to sexual stimulation. It is true that some younger girls and boys and some of the less experienced older women do, on occasion, hesitate to record their experience until the nature of sexual arousal has been defined for them. It has, therefore, been our standard procedure to explain that arousal is ordinarily accompanied by the realization that “one’s pulse is beating faster, one’s heart is thumping, and one’s breathing has become deeper.” This description has almost invariably brought an instantaneous reply from the subject to the effect that she had or had not had such experience during a sexual contact. We venture the opinion that normally intelligent persons who have never become conscious of at least the circulatory disturbances which occur during sexual contacts have never, in actuality, been very much aroused.

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