Observing the Effect Different Increments of Exercise Has on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Alexandra McGinn Bidwell

7th March 8, 2012 The circulatory system is a very important part of human life. It plays a crucial role in life itself and needs to be understood. The circulatory system, is responsible for transporting materials throughout the entire body. It transports nutrients, water, and oxygen to your billions of body cells and carries away wastes such as carbon dioxide that body cells produce. Within the circulatory system, there are incredible parts that work to keep the entire system running and one should really appreciate this system. To put it in a very basic, simple way, the main components of the circulatory system are the heart, blood vessels, and blood itself. Blood consists many nutrients including water, salt, and dissolved proteins. This blood travels through blood vessels, which include arteries and veins; the arteries carry oxygen rich blood and veins carry blood back to the heart. The heart is responsible for pumping the blood and keeping blood circulating throughout the body. Blood pressure is also an important aspect of the circulatory system. Blood, like all fluids, flows from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. Blood pressure can be taken by measuring ones systolic pressure over ones diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the pressure at which the heart contracts during ventricular systole; during this time, the heart contracts and the blood enters the arteries faster than it can leave and the vessels stretch from the rise in pressure. Following this process comes diastole in which the elastic walls of the arteries snap back. In measuring the blood pressure, it is represented with two numbers, the systolic pressure over the diastolic pressure. This measurement can be taken with a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. The sphygmomanometer, an inflatable cuff attached to a pressure gauge, measures blood pressure in an artery. The cuff is inflated until the pressure closes the artery, so that no blood flows past the cuff. When this occurs, pressure exerted by the cuff exceeds the pressure in the artery. The cuff deflates gradually, when the pressure exerted by the cuff falls just below that in the artery, blood pulses into the forearm, generating sounds that can be heard with the stethoscope. This is the systolic pressure. The cuff is allowed to deflate further, just until the blood flows freely through the artery and the sounds below the cuff disappear. This is the diastolic pressure. Heart rate measures how many times your heart beats in a minute. This is important because every time the heart beats, that means the blood is pumping and more blood is circulating. This measurement can be taken by simply counting the number of beats. Overall, these factors play a great role within the circulatory system and also the body as a whole. These factors change under different circumstances, such as while and shortly after exercising. This lab will explore the changes in blood pressure and heart rate after exercise. Research Question: How does doing jumping jacks for different intervals of time affect one heart rate and blood pressure?

Hypothesis: Depending on the individual, as one spends more time doing an exercise, both their heart rate and their blood pressure will increase. Variables: Independent: The increments of time in which jumping jacks were preformed: 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, 120 seconds, and 150 seconds. Dependent: Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Control: The location where the exercises were performed: right outside the classroom Age of the testing subjects (16-17 years old) Materials: Double Barrel Stethoscope Sphygmomanometer Timer Procedure: 1. Prepare your sphygmomanometer and stethoscope so that they are ready to take measurements swiftly after exercise. 2. Decide which partner will first preform the exercise. This partner will then do 30 seconds worth of jumping jacks, keeping a steady pace. 3. To do jumping jacks, begin with your feet touching together, parallel. Your feet will move as follows: each jumping jack, you move your feet from the original position by jumping to spread them farther apart, slightly more than your shoulders. As you are moving your feet like so, move your arms, which should originally be parallel to your body, in an outward movement until they reach as high as you can reach. Your arms should make a half circle in this movement. Jumping jacks are similar to the movements of scissors. 4. After preforming jumping jacks for 30 seconds, have your partner quickly take your blood pressure and heart rate. 5. First, take the heart rate. Have your partner count to 15 once you have found your pulse. (Your pulse can be found on your wrist and it will feel like a constant bumping) During their counting to 15, count how many times you feel your pulse. Then multiply that number by four and that is the beats per minute. 6. After finding the heart rate, find your blood pressure. To do this, bend your arm and slip the sphygmomanometer cuff around your bicep. Then, have your partner find your pulse on the brachial artery. Once the pulse is found, squeeze the ball until the pressure is at 180.

Raw Data: Uncertainty: +/My Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Measurements Time 30 60 90 120 150 Resting Heart Rate 84 bpm 80 bpm 84 bpm 76 bpm 84 bpm Active Heart Rate 108 bpm 136 bpm 136 bpm 120 bpm 136 bpm Blood Pressure 116/55 99/55 98/54 90/60 95/52

Austins Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Measurements Time 30 60 90 120 150 Processed Data: My Heart Rate Resting 21 bpm 20 bpm 21 bpm 19 bpm 21 bpm Active 27 bpm 34 bpm 34 bpm 30 bpm 34 bpm Resting Heart Rate 88 bpm 76 bpm 76 bpm 68 bpm 72 bpm Active Heart Rate 132 bpm 112 bpm 196 bpm 176 bpm 140 bpm Blood Pressure 160/70 130/50 140/50 140/60 150/60

Austins Heart Rate

Resting 22 bpm 19 bpm 19 bpm 17 bpm 18 bpm

Active 33 bpm 28 bpm 49 bpm 44 bpm 35 bpm

Conclusion: Unfortunately, this lab could not have produced much significant difference in order to have the most accurate results. Evaluation: This lab had much room for improvement and had many aspects which could have been improved in order for the lab to be significantly more accurate. First of all, controlling the variables was much more difficult in this lab because there were Subjects Trials Sources: Campbell Biology Textbook http://hes.ucfsd.org/gclaypo/circulatorysys.html