Rest...Guess...Gooo! Exercise Lab

Regular exercise is good for your body to help in maintaining homeostasis. The body is made up of several organ systems. Without any one of these systems there would be a failure in our ability to function. The circulatory systems consist of a series of vessels that transport blood to and from the heart and then throughout the whole body. By increasing exercise blood flow is increased and oxygen levels are elevated. Oxygen is needed to supply the cells with growth and the necessary nutrients. While resting, the respiratory levels, blood pressure and pulse are lower and as activity is increased so are the respiratory levels, blood pressure and pulse. Exercise can halp you feel better, look better and feel a sense of sccomplishment. It can also lower the chances of developing different diseases such as type II diabetes and high blood pressure. As you will see in the graphs and information with increased strain in exercising there are elevated levels of blood pressure as well as respiration. Increased exercise increases blood flow to various parts of the body. Exercise and activity is not only good for the body but also the mind as well!

In the graph below I have hypothesized what I thought would happen to my blood pressure, pulse, and respiration levels during each of the activities. For my three activities I chose to do for 10 minutes were; eating lunch (yum), standing on head, and hiking with the family. I took my blood pressure, pulse and counted my respiration levels as well. Respiration is counted by using a second hand on a watch and counting the breaths that are happening in 30 seconds and then multiplying by two. One breath is a breathing in and exhaling out. The pulse is taken by counting how many beats are happening within the 30 seconds and then multiply that by two. Placing two fingers on the side of your neck on either side of the trachea and locating a beat. Thud thud.

For each of the activities I projected what I thought would happen for each.

I thought that activity 1 (eating lunch) would not result in much of an increase of any of the rates.

I thought that for activity 2 (standing on head) would result in an increase in all the rates but not as much as say hiking or really anything that would be considered an exertion of any kind.

I thought that for activity 3 (hiking) there would be considerably higher then my resting rate or any of the other activities. So I projected it to high.

I did each of the activities and took my readings 5 times so that I could compare the results to that of my baseline or resting rates.

This is the blood pressure machine that I used. Luckily I did not have to run to Walgreens to get the reading every time. Phew.

This one way to take the pulse. Using two fingers. Palms up. Then, looking at a stop watch or something with a second hand count the beats that occur in 30 seconds. This is another way to take the pulse. Two fingers placed on your neck an inch or so below the chin just to the left or right of the trachea.

Here is the recorded data on a table above. It includes the resting rate, activity 1 (eating at lunch), activity 2 (head stand), and activity 3 (hiking). In the chart as you move your eyes down the side you can see the pulse, respiration, and blood pressure (systolic & diastolic) for each activity. the mean of each is on the far right hand column. Below are the means for each in bar graphs. The rate of each category is on the left hand side of the graph. Each activity including resting rate is at the bottom of the graph and the numbers of each bar is located at the top.

The graph above shows the respiration rate of each activity including resting rate.

The graph above is diastolic rate of the blood pressure reading for the activities including resting.
The graph above is the systolic rate of the blood pressure reading for each of the activities including resting rate.
This is a graph of the pulse reading for each of the following activities including resting rate.

Here is a picture of my son and I eating lunch. My daughter just thought she was the bomb for being able to take the picture. I did not think that my readings (pulse, respiration, bp) would be elevated much by doing this activity. But they were slightly elevated... eating these yummy treat must of made me happy! That banana was mm mm good.
The picture above is of me doing a head stand... and let me tell you... this was no easy task. I thought my head was gonna snap off or fill completely with blood. man o man...my readings were elevated but not by a bunch. My kids thought this was hilarious... seeing me do a head stand. You know I don't think I have done that since I was about 12 years old.

The picture above is of me and the family taking a break from hiking at Sycamore Canyon. As you can see from the recorded reading on the chart they are clearly elevated. That was a fun day. We even saw an eagle and a family of mule dear! Exciting stuff ya'll!



This is the eagle soaring in the sky the wing span was incredible... pretty neat!

This is the family of mule deer that we saw on our hike out! Way awesome! It doesn't take much to make my day!

After taking a look at my hypothesized data and comparing it to my gathered data. For the most part it was not right. Let's take each category one at a time.

Act. 1 pulse: hypothesis (78) actual (83)

Act. 1 respiration: hypothesis (14) actual (18)

Act. 1 bp systolic: hypothesis (138) actual (144)

Act. 1 bp diastolic: hypothesis (88) actual (94)

Act. 2 pulse: hypothesis (82) actual (80)

Act. 2 respiration: hypothesis (22) actual (23) Close!

Act. 2 bp systolic: hypothesis (145) actual (143)

Act. 2 bp diastolic: hypothesis (98) actual (90)

Act. 3 pulse: hypothesis (110) actual (109) Close!

Act. 3 respiration: hypothesis (34) actual (39)

Act. 3 bp systolic: hypothesis (168) actual (164)

Act. 3 bp diastolic: hypothesis (106) actual (114)

What I thought was interesting about the recorded data was that I got more excited (by excited I mean elevation in my rates) about eating my lunch then standing on my head. I thought for sure that the head standing event would raise my pulse, respiration, and bp levels more then eating my lunch. But it did not. The only level that was raised higher was my respiration levels by doing the head stand. Maybe it was the conversation at lunch with my kids that made my levels higher. It was a happy and funny lunch talk. I thought that laughter was good for you? Maybe the results would have been different with the head standing if I had moved a bit faster with the different readings. I did not get right on the mark on any of the hypothesized rates but I came close a few times. Overall, I was right when thinking that hiking would have significantly higher rates then any of the other activities. I think it would have been interesting to do the same activities with people who might have respiratory problems like asthma. I am sure there would be a difference in respiration levels as well as blood pressure readings. Also I think it would have been interesting to be able to compare my results with those of friends or family members doing the same types of exercises. Or maybe different age groups. Or adolescent versus adults.

In conclusion, various activities from eating lunch to hiking with the family all require energy. With the increase in activity there is an increase in oxygen production, blood flow and cellular nutrition and respiration to make this possible. With exercise being increased it caused the blood flow to increase which is why the blood pressure was higher in the diastolic and systolic levels. Blood flow moving in and out of the heart with each beat. Moving oxygenated blood through to various tissues in the body. With increased activity there are "wastes" carbon dioxide that are exhaled. Hints the intake of oxygen and the exhale of carbon dioxide rapidly increasing as the activity levels increased as was noted on the tables and graphs above. The ole saying, "get a bit of fresh air," never hurts, if anything it helps. In order for the body to function properly it is vital to consume a balanced diet, get regular exercise, and appropriate rest as well. After all we can live weeks without food, days without water but we can only last a few minutes without oxygen. Oxygen is vital for survival. I think in life there has to be a clear balance. Everything in moderation!