Parents embarking on the family summer holiday through Heathrow have had their suspicions confirmed: the experience is terminally stressful.

Researchers have discovered that Heathrow induces the same levels of stress and hypertension as being mugged at knifepoint or having a heart attack. Even standing motionless in a security queue can cause a passenger’s heart rate to hit levels usually only attained by elite sportsmen.

Four passengers attached to probes and monitors flew out of Heathrow last weekend to provide researchers with statistical evidence of how travelling through the world’s busiest international airport impacts health.

Their work has been funded by Silver-jet, a business-class-only airline that operates out of Luton airport.

The study found that passenger heart rates accelerated from 55 beats per minute to 70 within minutes of arriving at Heathrow. Heart rates peaked at 200 beats per minute as stress levels rose. The blood pressure of passengers rose from an average of 123/81 to 170/99. Skin conductance, a stress measurement used in lie-detector tests, reached levels 100 times higher than a typical relaxed state.

More than 68 million passengers a year use Heathrow despite its 1950s-era infrastructure designed to cope with only 45 million. The problems of overcrowding have been exacerbated by new security restrictions.

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, Heathrow’s largest user, said yesterday that the airport was damaging the airline’s business. He estimates that domestic air travel has dropped by 10 per cent because passengers are put off by the new security rules and by airport overcrowding.

BAA, which owns Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, has been accused by airlines and passengers of putting profits ahead of investing in airports. BAA rejects these claims and says it has spent £20 million on new security staff and equipment to speed up queues. It will also open Terminal 5 next year, which will be able to handle an extra 30 million passengers.

Stephen Gill, 22, one of the guinea pigs in the study, said: “The airport is manic and passengers are treated like cattle. That’s why it’s stressful.”

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