Two hearts beat as one! People subconsciously synchronise their heart rates while listening to stories, based on the narrative, study finds

• Experts led from the Paris Brain Institute played people stories or instructions
• The team monitored heart and breathing rates as the audio was listened to
• They found that the subjects tended to synchronise their heart rate to the story
• The same thing occurred even when the audio had no emotional component
• However, the more distracted people were, the less synchronised they were 

When people listen to stories, they subconsciously synchronise their heart rates with the narrative — and, therefore, each other — a study has demonstrated. 

The finding builds on previous studies that found that people often sync up bodily functions like heartbeats or breathing when undergoing a shared experience. 

Experts led from the Paris Brain Institute found a similar phenomenon occurs even when people are listening to a story on their own, as long as they pay attention.

The finding could help to develop a new and easy-to-administer hospital test to determine the level of a given patient's consciousness.

When people listen to stories, they subconsciously synchronise their heart rates with the narrative — and, therefore, each other — a study has demonstrated