Physiology of the Circulatory System Lab 10
By, Udaikaran Singh and George Ajit
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment is to obtain a greater understanding of the circulatory system within the human body by exploring the correlation of heart rate and blood pressure in accordance with exercise. The key finding during this is are that as heart rate increases within the person during exercise, blood pressure also increases. The significance of this is that it shows that when blood is pumped through the body at a higher rate, blood vessels will expand and cause the person to have higher blood pressure for a period of time after exercising. Finally, we can conclude that with higher pulse causes an increase in blood pressure by forcing the body to push more blood through it. The methodology that we used for this experiment was the Lab 10 given out during class to give instruction on how to analyze cardiovascular health through a series of tests.
Introduction
The problem we attempted to investigate is the immediate effect of exercise and pulse on blood pressure. The work was carried out to have a better understanding of this connection and the circulatory system in a whole. The background before this is a basic understanding of the circulatory system and how oxygen from the lungs that brought through the body and then carbon dioxide in expelled. The way we tested this is by having one us do a basic exercise for a short period, taking pulse along the way, and then finally taking the blood pressure in the end. The expected results from this test is that there should be an increase of blood pressure in accordance to an increase of pulse.
Methods and Materials
There are not many materials need to do this experiment. This experiment can be replicated with a sphygmomanometer. However, we would also recommend a step measuring approximately 18 inches to obtain similar results.
This experiment is broken up into five tests that are all used in obtaining the cardiovascular health of through a point based system. The chart below is used to record and interpret the data.
The first test we did was to measure the change of the systolic blood pressure between standing and reclining. First begin by reclining and taking the blood pressure. After 2 minutes, we stood and retook the blood pressure. We then subtracted the standing measurement from the reclining measurement. This number is given to a point value using the underneath chart.
The second and third test was to measure the pulse rate rather than the blood pressure while we were standing and reclining. Each of these measurement is associated to a point value using the charts below. The first chart was used for the standing pulse rate, and the second was used for the reclining pulse rate.
The fourth test that we took is called the baroreceptor reflex. This change is the change of pulse rate when a person goes from reclining to standing. To do this, we went from reclining to standing and immediately began taking the pulse of the person. To obtain a point value, we used the chart provided underneath.
The fifth, and last test we did was the endurance test. In this test, we began by taking the pulse while standing. Then, we did an exercise to increase the pulse. The exercise that we did was stepping up on a chair, however any exercise, such as going up stairs for squatting can be done. We would do the movement for 15 seconds, taking pulse right afterward. We repeated this twice, taking no breaks, except for the time needed to take pulse. We repeated the 15 second interval twice. Immediately after we did the same process of exercise and taking pulse right afterward, but with 30 second intervals. We repeated this 3 times. We took the final pulse and compared it to the beginning standing rate using the chart below.
Continuing test 5, we measured the amount of time it took for the person to return to their beginning pulse rate. To do this, we took the measurement every 30 seconds, and used the chart below to associate a point value.
The final step is to use the first chart to use this data to give an overall fitness value.
Results
Here we have the results from our testing for this experiment. To begin, the chart below is the results for me. As it shows, my fitness level is relatively poor, as I scored a value of 2. Something strange in these results is that I have a considerably higher reclining pulse that standing pulse, which is strange, as it is normally the other way. The rest of the results are self-explanatory.
Next, we have the results for George. He had similar results, however, he scored a little less in some tests. He finished with a score of 1. He also had the same irregularity of the reclining pulse being higher than the standing pulse. He similarly had the same time to return to original pulse.
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Discussion and Conclusions
In conclusion, both of fitness level are low, as we had low scores in almost all categories. Also, we can conclude that exercise raises blood pressure. This is because when the person is moving, the cells, specifically the muscle cells begin to work more. Because of this, they need a higher level of oxygen to continue to work. So, the body needs to breathe harder and the heart needs to pump harder to carry to oxygen. This forces the blood to move through faster and with more pressure as well as forcing the vessels to expand.
Continuing, the heart rate of person standing should be higher than a person reclining. This is because the body needs to pump faster when standing, because there is more resistance in the feet because of gravity. It takes more pressure to move it back up to the heart.
Blood pressure is a health concern, because it works the heart heavily and when a person has a higher heart pressure, the person has a higher chance to have a heart attack or stroke.
An athlete has to work harder and longer to achieve high cardiovascular health, because it takes intense exercise multiple times to build endurance and lower blood pressure over time. Immediately after exercising, the person has high blood pressure, however over time, the resting heart rate goes down when increasing the activity level of the person.
Smoking is one of the reasons people have high blood pressure, because it has many negative implications. To begin, people who smoke take in less oxygen within their lungs, causing the heart to pump harder to transport the blood. This is associated with a higher pulse and thereby higher blood pressure.
