{"id":188275,"date":"2023-10-29T08:33:37","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T08:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/?p=188275"},"modified":"2023-10-29T08:33:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T08:33:37","slug":"i-went-to-the-halloween-horror-bar-where-your-heart-rate-sets-the-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/lifestyle\/i-went-to-the-halloween-horror-bar-where-your-heart-rate-sets-the-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I went to the Halloween horror bar where your heart rate sets the prices\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Having never grown out of my childhood fear of the dark, I\u2019m probably not the person you want by your side if things go a bit 28 Days Later.<\/p>\n

But after learning about the potential benefits of fear exposure, I decided to try and build up my tolerance by visiting a bar where your heart rate sets the prices.<\/p>\n

Halloween has come early to Clerkenwell, London, where The Kraken Rum has opened the \u201cShock Exchange\u201d pop-up bar in the atmospheric catacombs.<\/p>\n

The black spiced rum brand worked with Danish scientists at Aarhus University\u2019s Recreational Fear Lab to design a \u201cgauntlet of relentless horror\u201d that punters must pass through to earn a beverage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With Daily Express colleagues Tara and Emily in tow for use as human shields, I braved the immersive horror experience.<\/p>\n

Upon entry, we were fitted with heart rate monitors and made our way through a series of rooms filled with terrifying sights, eerie sounds and actors in monstrous costumes.<\/p>\n

Professor Mathias Clasen, director of the Recreational Fear Lab, says fear \u201creduces people to their biological core\u201d.<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cEvery neurologically normal individual is born with a fear system that tends to respond to relatively predictable things such as spiders, snakes, heights, deep water, darkness or social situations in which we are vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun for us to share what we know about the physiology and psychology of fear for this experience, which is all about keeping fear down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kraken experience is about measuring heart rate which you can\u2019t really control rationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A creepy hospital room, demonic doll, hall of mirrors, and menacing figures that loomed out of the darkness were among the lurking terrors.<\/p>\n

Our hearts began racing and our bodies prepared to trigger a fight or flight response as we stumbled over the uneven floor.<\/p>\n

Your heart rate rises in preparation for an attack or other threat, Prof Clasen explains. \u201cIf you perceive potential danger, your whole system goes into alert mode with a range of predictable, swift, recalibrations in the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of those is increased heart rate, because you need to pump out a lot of energy to the big muscle groups so that you\u2019re ready to run away or fight. It\u2019s the nervous system preparing the organism for attack.\u201d<\/p>\n