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The Effects of Exercise on the Heart Rate

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The Effects of Exercise on the Heart Rate Aim: To discover if there is any link between the amount of exercise taken to the rise of a person's heart rate. Prediction: I believe that when the body is exercising very hard, the heart reaches its maximum heart rate. In a graph it would appear like this: When the maximum heart rate is reached the graph will level off because the heart rate is no longer increasing. When the body is exercising the muscles respire to produce energy, so the muscles can contract. Oxygen is needed for this process; the oxygen is carried in the haemoglobin of the red blood cell. The heart and lungs need to work harder in order to get a greater amount of oxygen to the muscles for respiration. In muscle cells digested food substances are oxidised to release energy. These oxidation reactions are called cellular respiration. When muscles use oxygen in order to respire the process is called aerobic respiration: Glucose + Oxygen Carbon Dioxide + Water C H O (aq) + 6O (g) 6CO (g) + 6H O (l) Energy released = 16.1kJ/g glucose This is only when the muscles are working aerobically. For movements such as raising an arm or moving the fingers, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) a chemical form of energy, is used. When the muscles use ATP for energy a chemical process happens where the ATP is broken down into two simpler chemicals, ADP (adenosine di-phosphate and inorganic phosphate. The process of turning ATP into ADP releases the energy which gives your muscles the ability to contract. When exercising ATP is used up within the first twenty seconds, the cells use the ATP in two phases; firstly glycolysis takes place, (the breakdown of glucose to pyruvic acid, which is a form of lactic acid) and then the complete oxidation of pyruvic acid to carbon dioxide and water, which will then be carried away by the blood stream. ...read more.


The lengths of exercise will be 1,2,3,4 and 5 minutes long. Afterwards we must let the person's heart rate return to its resting heart rate. Otherwise the following trial will not provide accurate results, because the trial would have started with a higher heart rate. Amount of Exercise (minutes) Pulse rate per minute 0 80 1 126 3 128 5 168 Pilot Test: For our pilot test we used a range of 1, 3 and 5 minutes, to test the extremes and the middle value of the experiment. This would show if the pace or length of the trial should be increased. Throughout the test one person would be counting 4 beats in 2 seconds. The person carrying out the trial would step up to the first and second beats and step down on the third and fourth beats. The feet of the person would be placed on the step on to the instep, so the foot would have to go farther or a shorter distance. We decided to measure the heart rate lying down because there would be no additional stress on the heart, which would increase the heart rate. The heart rate should also return to its resting heart rate due to the decrease of muscle use. Length of exercise (mins) 1st Trial 2nd Trial 3rd Trial 4th Trial Average 0 80 80 72 72 76 1 124 120 116 112 120 2 132 136 124 120 128 3 128 152 132 144 140 4 156 160 152 156 156 5 172 176 164 168 172 Results of Effects of Exercise on the Heart Rate Pulse rate per minute (beats) Conclusion: The graph shows that as the length of exercise increases the pulse rate raises until it starts to level off. The highest increase in the pulse rate occurs between 0-1minute. The pulse rate rises by 22 beats per minute. Thereafter it continues to rise by 21 beats every minute. ...read more.


The only way to accurately measuring the heart rate would be to use a data logger. The data logger is a heart rate sensor which takes the heart rate directly during exercise. This would produce far more accurate results because the heart rate could be taken during exercise rather than after it. Within our results we only found one result to be anomalous. This was at 1 minute; the amount of beats per minute was 120. This was a steep inclement from the resting heart rate of 76 beats per minute. From the line of best fit this particular result was out by 23 beats per minute. I think we got this result because it was the first result. When starting out the exerciser is not tired and still has stores of ATP is the muscles, so they start off quickly, making their heart rate faster to start off with. It is not until they start to become slightly more tired do they begin to slow down, which would affectively lower their heart rate; this can be seen from the 2 minute results and onwards. To improve upon this experiment I would increase the amount of times it is repeated, to give a wider range for the average to be taken from. I would also increase the range of the results. I would make the experiment longer to be able to see if the heart rate will actually level out and at which point. I would also increase the results in between the current ranges, e.g. have a range going up in intervals of thirty seconds instead of an interval of a minute. Further experiments I could carry out within my aim could involve exercising different muscle groups of the body. This could show which muscles need the most amount of blood supply. I could also try different intensities of the exercise carried out, for example carry out the experiment in sprinting and in badminton. ...read more.

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

4 star(s)

This is a well researched and structured report.
1. The background knowledge section includes a lot of detail; the sources should be referenced.
2. There are font changes at times that need to be removed.
3. The conclusion explains the pattern well and backs it up.
4. The evaluation shows a good understanding of scientific processes.

Marked by teacher Luke Smithen 16/07/2013

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