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Gopal Jayakar
Biology 240W
Section 024L
14 February 2017

Cardiovascular Effects of Small Amounts of Exercise on Males and Females

Introduction:

It is well known that human males and females have a large number of morphological

differences, and these differences may have impacts on the cardiovascular system. This

experiment attempts to characterize the impact that a short amount of exercise will have on the

cardiovascular system of each sex. Studies in the past have shown that women have lower

oxygen uptake rates than men at high levels of exercise (Reybrouck T, Fagard R), and this may

be a key factor in determining differences in heart rate between the sexes. However, men and

women experience highly similar relative gains in terms of physical fitness when exposed to

exercise regimens (Lewis DA, Kamon E, Hodgson JL).

In general, men have higher blood pressure than women until menopause, when womens

blood pressure supersedes that of men (Reckelhoff JF). Because this study focuses primarily on

young men and women, the it is likely that the pre-menopausal trend will appear in the results.

Previous studies have shown that blood pressure does increase after an exercise session and can

be dependent on concentrations of cholesterol and insulin resistance in the blood serum, but

because most of the subjects are of similar ages and share a relatively similar lifestyle, this is not

expected to be an issue (Brett S, Ritter J, Chowienczyk P). This experiment is designed to see

whether males and females react differently to exercise. Overall, the expectation is that men and

women will have extremely similar cardiovascular responses to exercise (OToole M).

Materials and Methods:

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First, resting heart rates and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were obtained from

each member in the trial using stethoscopes and sphygmomanometers. Each participant stepped

up onto and down from a box for a minute at different rates-- once so they completed 15 steps,

the other so they completed 30 steps. After each session, their heart rate and blood pressure were

recorded. Data on each participants sex was also gathered.

When the data was tabulated, it was sorted into two categories by gender. Then, the

averages for each data type were calculated. The percent differences between the data collected

after each type of exercise and the resting state were calculated, and then the average percent

differences were found. T-tests were conducted on the data comparing equivalent male and

female data ranges, and then the results were interpreted for significance. For further detail, refer

to Penn State Universitys Biology 240W Lab Manual.

Results:

Table 1: Resting Level Values

Female Male

Average SE Average SE

Pulse count 79.25 1.88854 75.73704 2.035855

Sys.BP 115.45 1.446359 121.8148 1.859784

Dias.BP 70.25 1.560886 73.85185 1.136927

This figure summarizes the data collected from participants before any exercise was conducted.
The average values for male and female are closely grouped, but are not always within the range
of standard error,

Graph 1:
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The female average is higher than the male average, but the error bars of both sets do overlap.

Graph 2:

The female average blood pressure in both cases is lower than the male blood pressure, just
outside of the range of error

Table 2: T-test Significance Data On Resting Heart Rate and Blood Pressure by Sex
P-Value Conclusions?

Pulse count/min 0.3064957 This p value is much too

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high to be significant

Systolic 0.083507064 This p value is almost low

BP enough to be significant,
further testing should be
done

Diastolic BP 0.194026 This p value is too high to

be significant
None of the tests produced statistically significant results, which means that no conclusions
could be drawn.

Table 3: Normalized average change in pulse count after exercise

Female Male

Data Type Intensity av.% diff SE av.% diff SE

Pulse Count 15-step 25.68782 3.151001 29.6094 3.903523

30-step 60.65616 6.32852 54.60542 8.795612

Systolic BP 15-step 6.466952 3.571825 10.84433 1.913183

30-step 24.50461 2.665154 24.05599 2.637774

Diastolic BP 15-step 12.48863 4.092549 5.117944 2.631694

30-step 25.91401 6.543884 8.284859 2.272311

This table summarizes the percent changes in heart rate and blood pressure observed after the
exercise session. In every case, the 30-step trial saw a greater increase than the 15-step trial did.

Graph 3:
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The most affected measure is blood pressure, and female systolic and diastolic blood pressure are
increased roughly the same percentage after the 30-step trial. Male systolic blood pressure
follows the same pattern, but male diastolic pressure is relatively unaffected by the 30-step trial.

Table 4: T-test Significance Data On Percent Increase By Sex

P-Value Conclusions?

15 Heart Rate 0.4457372 These values are all

steps/min much too high to be
% Change Systolic BP 0.501605868 statistically
significant, so no
Diastolic BP 0.88506 conclusion can be
30 Heart Rate 0.994895191 reached.
steps/min
% Change Systolic BP 0.28791

Diastolic BP 0.069159 This p value is

almost low enough
to be significant,
further testing
should be done
Once again, one of the tests produced statistically significant results, which means that no
conclusions could be drawn.

Discussion:
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None of the results acquired in this experiment showed statistically significant differences

between the male and female population, though diastolic blood pressure percent difference and

resting systolic blood pressure came close. This may be due to the small sample size in the

experiment. When looking at the data and assuming the only reasonable variation is in the range

of the error bars, some expected trends were observed. Male blood pressure was higher than

female blood pressure, and the resting male heart rate was lower than the resting female heart

rate. For the most part, males and females varied similarly when exposed to the same exercise.

Unfortunately, while these trends seem promising, there is not enough statistical proof of these

trends for this experiment to confirm their existence.

This experiment should be redone with a much larger group of participants to increase the
statistical power of the tests. Some elements of this experiment were very good-- namely, that all
the participants were of similar age and lifestyle. However, participants should also be striated by
lifestyle factors, such as exercise and caffeine use, before placed into groups. If this is done,
noise due to external factors will be reduced and better results may be achieved.
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Works Cited

Brett S, Ritter J, Chowienczyk P. (2017) Diastolic Blood Pressure Changes During Exercise

Positively Correlate With Serum Cholesterol and Insulin Resistance. Circulation,

2000;101:611-615.

Lewis DA, Kamon E, Hodgson JL. (1986) Physiological Differences between Genders.

Implications for Sports Conditioning. Sports Medicine, 357-69.

OToole ML. (1989) Gender Differences in the Cardiovascular Response to Exercise.

Cardiovascular Clinics. 9(3):17-33.

Reckelhoff JF. (2001) Gender Differences in the Regulation of Blood Pressure. Hypertension,

37(5):1199-208.

Reybrouck T, Fagard R. (2017) Gender Differences in the Oxygen Transport System During

Maximal Exercise in Hypertensive Subjects. Chestnet, 115-3.