Exercise & Heart rate Lab

Directions: Follow the instructions for each section of the lab. Use the Guide to Writing Lab Reports for
additional help with each section of the lab.

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH QUESTION
How does increasing physical activity affect the heart rate of high school students?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The heart rate is a measure of the speed at which a person's heart beats. Normally, this is about 60 to 75
beats per minute (BPM) when someone is resting. When a person exercises, however, their heart needs to
beat faster in order to deliver oxygen to the muscles more quickly. The reason that the muscles need
oxygen more quickly is that during exercise our muscles use oxygen more quickly in order to supply the
energy needed for the extra movement. During exercise or any kind of physical activity, muscle cells
respire more quickly. Respiration is a process that uses oxygen to create carbon dioxide and energy.

The rate at which the heart beats can be measured by an electrocardiograph (ECG) or by measuring your
pulse. A pulse is caused by the contraction and relaxation of an artery as the blood is pushed through it.
This means that the pulse rate is the same as the heart rate. Two places you can feel your pulse are on the
inside of your wrist and on the side of your neck. Once the pulse is located, count the number of beats for
15 seconds, then multiply this number by four to calculate the beats per minute.
In this investigation, the goal is to find out how different levels of exercise impacts the heart rate of high
school students.

HYPOTHESIS:
If the amount of physical activity is increased then the heart rate will INCREASE because the active muscles
will have a greater need for nutrients and oxygen.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: … Activity level

DEPENDENT VARIABLE: … Heart rate bpm
CONTROL VARIABLES: … How you measure heart rate, temperature, humidity, win

SECTION 2: EXPERIMENT
Safety
● Avoid strenuous exercise if you have breathing problems or a heart condition.
● Clear the area you are exercising to avoid tripping over loose objects.
● Drink plenty of water while exercising to avoid dehydration.

Materials
● 1 phone or stopwatch
● Calculator
Procedure
1. Take your resting heart rate (in beats per minute BPM) by measuring the number of heart beats in
10 seconds and then multiplying that number by 6.
2. Perform the exercise (run the stairs, jumping jacks, etc.)
3. Again measure your heart rate in the same manner as above.
4. Record the data of the whole class.

SECTION 3: RESULTS
DATA
1. Use the Google Sheets to fill in your data into the group data sheet.

Heart rate of a class of students before and after exercise:

Student Heart rate before (bpm) Heart rate after (bpm)

1 70 120
2 65 125
3 75 130
4 80 140
5 68 118
6 72 122
7 62 115
8 78 135
9 73 128
Average 71.4 125.8
Standard Deviation 5.87 8.17

2. Then find the AVERAGE & STANDARD DEVIATION of the data.

DATA ANALYSIS Here you must put your processed data table and a graph of your data. Use this Video
as a review of how to make a graph on Google Sheets. Note that you must include the error bars on the
graph. To do this you must make each data set its own series. Then you can add the standard deviation
as the custom error bar for the corresponding series. Make sure your graph is clear and well labeled.

Graph here
Statistical Analysis - T-test
0.0000000001043561814

There was no significant increase in the reaction time when the subject was subject to noise
(AVG = 27.6, SD = 16.3) compared to when they were not distracted by noise(AVG= 19.8, SD
=7.1), p =0.19 .p > 0.05
In this experiment you are required to do statistical analysis in the form of a t-test. This tells you if the
difference between these two sets of data is statistically significant. A link showing you how to do this is
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE1cChBscB8.

SECTION 4: EVALUATION & CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the heart rate experiment yielded valuable insights into the dynamic nature of
cardiovascular responses. The data collected revealed a clear correlation between various activities and
corresponding changes in heart rate, emphasizing the body's adaptive mechanisms to different stimuli. The
observed patterns underscore the importance of exercise intensity.

Our hypothesis that increasing activity levels will leads to increased heart rate was confirmed. Analysis of
the data showed a significant increase in the average heart rate of the class after exercise. In every case,
the heart rate of the student increased after exercise. The amount of increase was quite variable however
given the size of the error bars we can be sure that the heart rate is significantly increased after exercise.
DISCUSSION & EVALUATION
Our data was collected by students measuring their own pulse before and after the exercise. This can lead
to errors since it can be difficult to accurately measure heart rate in this way. A more accurate way of doing
this experiment would be to use a heart rate monitor or maybe even a smart watch equipped with a heart
rate monitor. More complete studies could be set up with a greater variety of conditions.

The data obtained by the students had measurements of heart rate that were curiously high. Resting heart
rates in the 100’s are almost certainly false readings and heart rates above 160 are almost surely
inaccurate as well.

REFERENCES

Jones, Mary, and Geoff Jones. “Chapter 9 Transport in Animals.” Essay. In Cambridge IGCSE Biology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Staff, Mayo Clinic. “Can You Sing While You Work out?” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, August 6, 2019. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-
depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887.