The Effect of Exercise on Pulse Rate

Hypothesis

During a period of exercise pulse rate will increase.

Plan

I will need only a stopwatch and no other apparatus for my experiment.

I will rest for five minutes and then take my resting pulse rate and

record it. I will rest to make sure that it is fair and that my pulse

has not been raised by anything. I will then do step up exercises for

five minutes on a 10cm step and rest for five minutes after that. I

will take my pulse every minute during the exercise and every minute

for five minutes afterwards to find my recovery rate. To make the test

safe I will make sure that I drink plenty of water and wear trainers

to protect my ankles from injury. The variables which I will keep the

same to make it a fair test are the period of time for which I

exercise and when I take my pulse rate. My independent variable will

be the time for which I exercise and my dependant variable will be my

pulse rate. I will repeat the experiment three times to get an

accurate result. I will measure my pulse in beats per minute (bpm) and

the time in minutes (min).

I predict that my pulse rate and rate of respiration will increase as

a result of exercise. I think that there will be a gradual increase to

begin with, but as the body has to work harder I think that the heart

will then increase at a faster rate. When the exercise is complete I

think that the heart rate will gradually decrease back to the resting

pulse rate.

I predict this because the supply of Oxygen to the muscles will

decrease which will push the pulse rate up. I also think that a lot of

energy will be used up as the exercise takes place, resulting in a

further increase. If the body is unable to continue aerobic

respiration anaerobic respiration will take place. This results in

lactic acid being formed.