How Exercise Affects Your Heart Rate and Recovery Time

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BIOLOGY COURSEWORK

HOW EXERCISE AFFECTS YOUR HEART RATE AND RECOVERY TIME

PLAN

        I plan to investigate the effect of different amounts of exercise on heart rate and recovery time. I will record the amount of time it will take for my heart rate to return to normal after doing 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 step ups per minute for one minute on to the rung of a lab stool. In the interest of safety, I will not do more than 60 steps per minute in case I slip, fall and hurt myself. Also I may not be able to keep up with more than 60 per minute. I will make sure that the stool is on an even surface and will not jog while I am stepping up. I will wear sensible shoes and clothes.

        I will begin by sitting very still for 5 minutes so that my pulse rate is as low as possible. Then I will take my pulse rate for over a period of one minute, I will repeat this until I have four steady pulse rates. This is to insure that my pulse rate is not still slowing down. The sudden increase in pulse rate may be due to movement or talking, this is because the muscles will begin to work and need the blood pumped faster to give them more oxygen and food. After I have three pulse readings of regular pattern, I will place my stool ready and take with me a stopwatch, pencil and book. All making as little movement as possible so as to raise my pulse rate as little as possible. Stopwatch in hand, I will step my right followed by my left foot onto the stool rung and down again every six seconds. This will carry on for a minute and then I will sit down and find my pulse in my neck using my index and middle finger. I will not use my thumb because there is a pulse in it and they are not in rhythm. Then I will take pulse rates for over a period of twenty seconds until it has reached my resting pulse rate again. I will multiply the readings by three so that they are for the same time as my resting pulse rate. I will repeat this procedure for 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 steps up per minute. I will divide the number by 60 to work out how many seconds in between each step. E.g. for 40 steps: 60/40 = 1.5. 1 step every 1.5 seconds.

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The independent variable is the rate of exercise. Units to measure in are steps per minute. The dependent variable is my heart rate immediately after exercise. Units to measure in are beats per minute.

 

Controls:

  • Take resting heart rate after 5 minutes sitting down without talking and moving as less as possible.
  • The time measuring your heart rate before and after exercise. For the before exercise reading I will take it over 60 seconds so that I get a more accurate reading over a longer period of time. For the after exercise reading I will take ...

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This is a very superficial experiment write up, which doesn't use scientific theory to explain or reinforce the results. The analysis and evaluation is basic and gives no thought on how the experiment could be improved. 2 stars.