Investigation Into The Effect Of Exercise On Pulse Rate

Apparatus

• Stopwatch
• Bench

Method (Main Test)

• Draw out a table to put your results in, it should have duration of exercise going down vertically and the measurement number and average going across the top horizontally, like this one:

        

• Take resting pulse rate.
• Start stop watch and step up and step down onto the bench for 1 minute. Count each step up (not down) has ‘1’
• After 1 minute of exercise stop and take the pulse rate and fill it in on the table.
• Start the stop watch again and exercise for another 1 minute and take pulse rate.
• Continue doing this until first column is filled and take a 5 minute break.
• Do the complete experiment twice again to fill in columns 2 and 3 and then work out the average pulse rates.

Fair Test And Number Of Readings

I made the experiment a fair test by only changing the duration of exercise (independent variable) and keeping everything else constant (controlled variables). I kept the timing on the stopwatch as accurate has possible and did the step ups at a constant pace. Also, it was always my pulse rate that was measured keeping the subject the same. To get an accurate result has possible I repeated the experiment three times and then got an average of the 3 measurements that were taken.

Safety

• Step ups should be taken at a regular/constant pace to ensure you don’t slip of the bench.
• Shoes or trainers should be worn to protect feet.

Observations

I did find three results that seemed unusual, I think it was due to it been difficult to get an accurate pulse rate without using some type of electrical pulse rate measurer. However because we took averages of the three measurements we did, the overall results seemed correct.

Results

        

Conclusion

We found that after every minute of exercise the pulse rate increases which agrees with my prediction. The graph does show that the increase in pulse rate is steeper at the start of exercise so towards the end of the duration of exercise the increase in pulse decreased. This shows that if we were to continue exercising long enough our pulse rate would eventually level out.

        The increase in pulse rate occurred because the body needed to deliver oxygen and glucose which are carried in the blood to the working muscles more quickly.

Evaluation

I my investigation when reasonably well and we got the results we expected. However I think I could have made some changes to make the results more accurate, such has:

• Using an electronic pulse rate monitor has it was sometimes heard to count the pulse rate especially after a long duration of exercise. This would also decrease the time between exercise.
• Make sure I did the exercise at a steady rate.
• Repeat the investigate after a long amount of time to ensure the body has gone down to its resting pulse rate.

However, we did not get any results that seemed out of place. I think if we were to repeat the experiment again the results would not be exactly the same but if put on a graph the curve would be very similar. Mainly because of the inaccuracy of counting the pulse rate. I think if we could exercise for a longer duration we could prove that after a certain duration of exercise the pulse rate does level out.