Stressed out! How late delivery could cause you Takeaway Trauma

It is something we have all experienced on countless occasions, the agonising wait after ordering your takeaway on a Saturday night.

Whether it’s the stress of waiting at the window, constantly checking for updates on its arrival time, or even when it finally arrives after 40 minutes and you’ve been sent the wrong pizza or your food is cold.

But now, as part of a study at the University of Wolverhampton, people being ‘cheesed’ off while they wait for their pizza or Chinese to arrive has been identified as an actual condition – Takeaway Trauma.

Researchers found that the average heart rate increased after ordering pizza and other fast food, from a baseline or relaxed 70 beats per minute (BPM) to 87.

While stress levels saw an increase with the length of time that we wait for an order from 17.25 to 18.38 BPM.

The experiment, by the University’s biomedical sciences department, saw participants fitted with heart rate monitors to measure pulse fluctuations, as well as monitoring stress levels using the psychometric questionnaire while they wait for a pizza delivery. Behavioural experts then grouped the results into four stages – fidgety, anxious, irate and lost.

Dr Martin Khechera, senior lecturer in biomedical science at the University, said: “We have all seen friends, partners and even ourselves get antsy and annoyed during the process of ordering a takeaway. However, it is a surprise to see that the experience has a real impact on stress levels and our heart rate.

“We saw that the longer people were waiting for their takeaway, the more stressed they became – and we saw changes in their heart rate and blood pressure. People were getting anxious and irate and wondering where the food was.

“The study was not to tell people not to order takeaways it was to highlight the changes that can happen in some cases.”

Following the initial joy and excitement of placing an order, around five minutes later people enter the fidgety stage – characterised by finger-tapping, toe-tapping and starting to check the takeaway’s app for updates on arrival times. Around 10 minutes after ordering, anxiety starts to creep in.

As stress levels increase further, 40 minutes after ordering, a lack of clear communication, the tardiness of deliveries and the driver going the wrong way heightens emotions and results in a state of being visibly irate.

The final stage is one of absolute despondency. Frequently after waiting for a long time – around 50 minutes – the wrong order arriving, or the food being of a disappointing quality makes people feel lost.