Heart rate monitor strap and water bottle in hand, I walked into my P.E. class ecstatic to be doing one of my favorite workouts. I’d done this cardio dance workout once before in class, and I had a great time, so I was pumped to be doing it again. I snapped my heart rate monitor into place, found a spot in the front and took a sip of water. I’d never been so enthusiastic about a P.E. workout in my life. Along with my classmates, my name and resting heart rate were projected in a rectangle on the screen.
We started the workout, and I was enjoying myself. I was probably putting in more effort than I ever had for a P.E. class. I glanced up at the screen, noticing that among the sea of green and orange rectangles, one of them was bright red. Someone’s heart rate was in the maximum range the heart rate monitors recorded. Embarrassingly enough, it was mine.
I stopped, drank some water and stared intensely at the screen. I anxiously waited for my heart rate to decrease and for my rectangle to turn orange again. My nervousness quickly turned into panic, which only further increased my heart rate. My excitement to do the workout motivated me to put in extra effort, but I feared my classmates would see my high heart rate as me being a “tryhard.” But more importantly, I was disappointed that the extra effort I’d put into a workout I really enjoyed turned out to be embarrassing instead of fun.
Having individual heart rates available for everyone in a class to see can feel demeaning to some students. It’s simply embarrassing to receive glances from across the room or be made fun of by friends for being in a different heart rate range. Even when not pointed out, the publicization of heart rates brings unnecessary attention to certain students and allows for assumptions about their levels of physical capability.
Along with overthinking these assumptions, factors such as anxiety or other health conditions may affect heart rate, causing differences between those affected and the rest of the class. Regardless of the circumstances, students with higher or lower heart rates are unjustly subjected to the judgment of their classmates and the accompanying embarrassment.
While keeping track of students’ heart rates can be a useful and educational tool for P.E. classes, they shouldn’t be publicized. Instead, after class, students interested in viewing their heart rate can ask their teacher to show them the progression of their heart rate throughout the class, or teachers can email them a screenshot of their heart rate timeline.
It’s unfair for students to be humiliated by the display of their personal information. Heart rates can be a source of unnecessary embarrassment or anxiety for students, so they should be kept hidden.