The Effects of Exercise on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

The aim of this lab experiment was to determine how the activity affects blood pressure and pulse rate. The selected subjects were engaged in workouts that were done on stationery mode with the aid of customized workout equipment. The resulting blood pressure before and after physical exercise was measured. The systolic 1, diastolic, heart rate and pulse pressure were analyzed to test the hypothesis which states that; after workouts, the subjects would manifest a remarkable increase in blood pressure. The findings proved to be true; there was an increase in the average blood pressure than when the participants were at rest. Also, the heart rate slightly improved with exercise.

Introduction

The rhythmic heartbeat forces blood to circulate an individual’s body to supply it with adequate energy and oxygen. As the blood flows, it forces itself against the arterial and capillaries walls, thus making the heart to exert certain force to push blood to the rest parts of the parts of the body (Farah et al. 112). This force is known as blood pressure. It is frequently higher in the aorta and the main arteries, but decreases as blood flows to the further parts of the body. Moreover, blood pressure is measured either as the systolic pressure which is caused by forceful contraction of ventricles or diastolic pressures which represent the pressure maintained when the ventricles relax. Carpio-Rivera et al. (422) noted that blood pressure is inversely proportionate to cardiac output, blood volume, and vascular resistance. On the other hand, the heart rate is measured as the sum of heart beats per minute and can be recorded by pressing lightly on the heart .The pulse rate is at the average while the body is at rest, but increases during the exercises. This investigation was aimed at determining and explaining how exercises affect blood pressure and heart rate. It involved 19 health students, whose blood pressure and pulse rate were measured before and after the exercise to establish a practical basis of the research question.

Literature Review

Physical activities such as swimming, running, and aerobics have been associated with increased cardiovascular activity since the muscles need more oxygen compared to the time of inactivity. As a result, the systolic blood pressure rises. However, physicians recommend that systolic blood pressure should not exceeds beyond 220mm Hg as it increases the heart risks (Farah et al. 112). Although there are other factors that influence an extreme spike in the blood pressure during physical activity, the blood pressure should drop back to normal shortly after exercise (Aprile et al. 207). Further studies indicate that when the body is engaged in the rigorous activity, the arterial pressure and pulse rate increases since the heart has to work faster to perform a venous return. This increases the hearts stroke volume. However, after the exercise is over, the arterial pressure and pulse rate decreases because  the heart do not require a high cardiac output leading to less stroke volume (Farah et al. 112). Nevertheless, researchers have not fully established whether exercise can significantly alter the blood pressure and blood rate respectively. As a result, this lab experiment would provide important findings to prove that.

Materials

The experiment involved 19 health students whose blood pressure was recorded using the Blood Pressure Sensor and the Vernier computer interface. Then, the blood pressure cuff works best with two rubber tubes. The hem was attached to the upper arm, slightly above the elbow. It was necessary to place the rubber hoses over the biceps muscle to have easier access to the brachial artery. Moreover; the Hand-Grip Heart Rate Monitor was used to measure the response rate. After measurements, the Heart Rate Receiver was used to channel the Data electronically to a Vernier interface. The Heart Rate Receiver enables continuous monitoring of heart rate before, during, and after exercise or while a subject is stationary. Also, the HRM models were useful in timing the workout and offer a continuous, average, high and low heart rate data. Consequently, the systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures were recorded and analyzed using the software.

Data Table

In this investigation, the subjects’ baseline pulse and blood pressure were recorded to establish a resource for analysis. The table below indicates the average data;

Table1.0: The Average evidence for Heart Rate, SBP and DBP

Baseline Blood Pressure

Heart Rate averages

(Beats per 60 sec)          

Average Systolic BP

(mmHg)

Average Diastolic BP

(mmHg)

0

76.97

106.32

84

0.5

82.63

114.68

75.79

2

71.37

108.95

74.58

4

71.68

107

75.21

6

74.95

102

71.37

8

74.84

106

72.89

10

78.21

107.16

77.52

Later, after the stationery workouts, both the heart rate and blood pressure was measured again. The data is outlined as follow:

Table2.0: The average systolic pressure and diastolic pressure during the Exercise

Blood Pressure Changes after Exercise

 Systolic Blood Pressure

 Diastolic Blood Pressure

(mmHg)

Mean arterial

0

112.63

85

94.21

0.5

121.34

73.80

89.65

2

116

74.80

88.53

4

113.42

70

84.47

6

109

71.34

83.90

8

115.02

76.53

89.36

The pulse rate was analyzed to estimate need by the heart to return to initial readings.

Table 3.0

Status

(Heart Rate bpm)

Time (s)

Heart rate at rest

118

14.6

Heart Rate at peak

142

23

Rebound Heart Rate

110

12.6

The recorded data was further interpreted using graphs to demonstrate the trend of the blood pressure and blood rate during the experiment.

Figure 1: Graph illustrating the heart rate averages

Figure 2: The graph showing the systolic blood pressure

Figure 3: The presentation of Diastolic blood pressure

Results

As hypothesized, the diastolic pressure and systolic blood pressure increased during activity. Besides, the diastolic blood pressure changed during the exercise too. As a result, the observations proved our initial hypothesis to be true. For instance, the systolic pressure was generally around 106 before the workout, but it increased slightly during work out. However, the diastolic pressure was a bit higher during the exercise. This was due to the heart’s attempt, to supply more oxygen and energy to the muscles involved in the stretching.

After the maximum heart value, the heart rate was lower than the initial resting heart rate which was 118 and getting down to 110. Therefore, the resting heart rate can be explained as usual, as it was up and sometimes down. Basically, every time a participant exercised, the blood pressure and heart rate increased. In addition, the slight drop of systolic pressure after the exercise could mean that, blood pressure was returning to normal as the body was at rest. Similarly, the heart rate would decrease in terms of heart beat since the body needed little energy or oxygen while at rest.

Discussion

As mentioned earlier, the hypothesis was that when an individual participates in some form of exercise, there would be an increase in the blood pressure and pulse rate. This is true since the systolic, diastolic and the heart rate increased with training. While both forces increased to about 18mmHg, the heart rate increased from 72 mL beat to 82. The findings indicated that there was a remarkable increase in blood pressure and pulse rate after exercise. This may explain why the athlete’s reports increased blood pressure during their pieces of training (Nualnim et al. 1006). In addition, the slight drop of systolic pressure after the exercise could mean that, blood pressure was returning to normal as the body was at rest. Similarly, the heart rate would decrease in terms of heart beat since the body needed little energy or oxygen while at rest.

However, the current study failed to relate the mechanism by which blood pressure decreases after the exercise is over. Also, according to Kumar et al., some other factors such as BIM, height and physical fitness may influence the blood pressure and pulse rate (3). Nevertheless; the findings are supported by previous studies that indicate a remarkable increase in blood pressure during the workouts. In this case, the experiment has just proved the already tested hypothesis.

Summary

A systematic investigation of the effect of exercise on the systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure was carried out. Data were obtained from students using The Hand-Grip Heart Rate Monitor and whose results were almost similar to the initial hypothesis. The blood pressure and heart rate were above average even after the end of the activity. This observation might have slightly differed with the previous investigation because readings were recorded shortly after stopping the exercises. However, the results proved that activities affect the blood pressure and heart rate.

Conclusion

The lab investigation to examine how the exercise affects the blood pressure and blood rate successfully indicated that physical activities alter both blood pressure and pulse rate. However, there is a need for further investigations as other factors such as weight and body height may interfere with the results within a group of subjects.

                                                                    Works Cited

Carpio-Rivera, Elizabeth, et al. “Acute Effects of Exercise on Blood Pressure: A Meta-Analytic Investigation.” Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia 106.5, 2016, 422-433.

Farah, B. Q., et al. ”Does Exercise Intensity Affect Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Obese Adolescents? A 6‐Month Multidisciplinary Randomized Intervention Study.” Pediatric Obesity. 9.2, 2014, 111-120.

Aprile, Daniele CB, et al. ”Post-Exercise Hypotension is Mediated by a Decrease in Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Stages 2-3 CKD.” American Journal of Nephrology 43.3, 2016, 206-212.

Kumar, Satish, Ashok Kumar, and Santosh Prasad. ”A Comparative Study of Change in Blood Pressure & Heart Beat Before and After Training.” J Adv Med Dent Scie Res 2013, 1(2):167-170.

Nualnim, Nantinee, et al. ”Effects of Swimming Training on Blood Pressure and Vascular Function in Adults> 50 Years of Age.” The American Journal of Cardiology

109.7, 2012, 1005-1010.