Investigate the effect exercise has on pulse rate.

Authors Avatar

An investigation to see

 how exercise affects Pulse rate

Task- to investigate the effect exercise has on pulse rate

Key Factors

  • The length that you exercise
  • The intensity that you exercise
  • Mood and state of mind
  • Fitness levels
  • Resting pulse rate
  • Health
  • Diet
  • Environment (body temp)

I have chosen to investigate the length that you exercise for.

Prediction

I predict that the longer you exercise for the higher my pulse rate will increase o, as it does this I think that it will reach a peak rate and the become steady. I do not think that it will carry on increasing as the length of exercise does after a certain stage.

This is how I think my graph will look.

The reason that I think the length of exercise will affect my pulse rate is to do with the muscles on my body contracting so that I can do this exercise. The more that I exercise for the more energy that my muscles need so they can contract, therefore the less exercise the less energy that they will need. The way that they are able to this is by the release of energy in the muscle cells they are respiring aerobically, this is the release of energy from the breakdown of glucose by combining it with oxygen inside living cells (the energy is contained within the glucose molecules)

Each muscle cell needs a supply of oxygen and a supply of glucose, and they all need to get rid of the waste products water and carbon dioxide. The word equation for aerobic respiration is:

Oxygen + glucose          carbon dioxide + water + energy

The symbol equation is:

C6 H12 O6 + 602         6C02 + 6H2O

In order for the oxygen to get to the muscle cells it uses the breathing system, this is designed to allow oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange efficiently. When we breathe in the intercostals muscles (the muscles between our ribs) contract and the ribs move up and out. The diaphragm moves down, increasing the chest space. As the volume increases, the pressure decreases. This makes the air pressure inside the lungs lower than atmospheric air pressure and so because air moves from high to low pressure, air in forced into the lungs.

Once the air is inside my lungs it must now get to the cells so that they can perform aerobic respiration. To do this it firstly diffuses from the alveolus to the blood stream.

The air passes down the trachea which is divided into two tubes called the bronchi, which divide again, several times to form the bronchioles which continue to divide until they end as air sacs called alveoli (there are millions of these providing excellent surface area for gas exchange) they are very close to the capillaries. Here, carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the alveoli, and oxygen diffuses from the alveoli into the blood stream. This means that the blood has swapped its carbon dioxide for oxygen and is now oxygenated. The Carbon dioxide is breathed out.

Join now!

The oxygen that is now in the blood stream will now be transported to all the cells of my body so that it can combine with glucose to release energy. This shows that when I exercise as I breath in the oxygen from the atmosphere is actually being used to help the cells in my muscles respire.

Mitochondria are found in greater numbers in fast respiring cells such as muscles which are doing this when I exercise, this is because they are the site of aerobic respiration. They absorb glucose and oxygen and provide the energy releases in my ...

This is a preview of the whole essay