1. Lab 1:
Heart Rate and Blood
Pressure
as Vital Signs

2. DATA
Table 1- Baseline Blood Pressure
Systolic pressure Diastolic pressure Mean arterial
(mm Hg) (mm Hg) pressure (mm Hg)
151 mm Hg 81 mm Hg 98 mm Hg

3. Table 2- Blood Pressure Response to Cold
Systolic pressure Diastolic Mean arterial
(mm Hg) pressure (mm pressure (mm
Hg) Hg)
134 mm Hg 73 mm Hg 90 mm Hg

4. Table 3
Heart rate Time
(bpm) (s)
Condition
Resting heart 77.87 bpm 25.02 sec
rate
Maximum heart 81.96 bpm 40.01 bpm
rate
Rebound heart 77.84 bpm 180.2 sec
rate

5. DATA ANALYSIS
1. Describe the trends that occurred in
the systolic pressure, diastolic
pressure, mean arterial pressure, and
heart rate with cold stimulus. How
might these responses be useful in a
“fight or flight” situation?
- When the levels fluctuate it stimulates the
senses therefore pushing the body one
direction or another.

6. 2. As a vital sign, blood pressure is an indicator of
general health. A high blood pressure (140/90 or
higher) increases the risk of cardiovascular
disease and strokes. Collect the systolic and
diastolic pressures for the class and calculate the
average for each. Rate the class average blood
pressure using the follow scale: class average is
above high. 143/84
Blood Pressure Category
140/90 or higher High
120-139/80-89 Pre-hypertension
119/79 or below Normal

7. 3. How long after immersion did your
heart rate reach its maximum value?
Explain the physiologic mechanism that
led to this change in heart rate.
- About 15 seconds. The nerves felt the
change n temp, and the loss of body heat,
started pumping more blood to generate
more heat to compensate for the loss whilst
the foot is in the ice water.

8. 4. Describe the changes in heart rate that
occurred after the maximum value. How can
you explain the minimum heart rate value?
How would you explain the heart rate
variations seen in the remainder of the
experiment?
- The heart rate receded to its baseline state.
The minimum heart rate value is taken when
the body is stress free and at a physical rest
point, therefore using the least amount of blood
possible. More activity = larger blood flow.

9. 5. How long after the maximum heart rate
did it take to arrive at your rebound heart
rate? What can you say about the relative
speed of physiologic response to a
stimulus vs. the speed of mechanisms
that are designed to maintain
homeostasis?
- 140 seconds. Takes time to slow down the
reaction that was already flowing, similar to
stopping a fully loaded train traveling at 60
mph. It can’t stop on a dime.

10. • 6. If the heart rate is too slow there is
inadequate blood pressure to maintain
perfusion to the brain. This can lead to
loss of consciousness (fainting). Keeping
in mind the autonomic nervous system
responses that you observed in this
experiment, explain the sequence of
events that results in a severely
frightened person fainting.
• - Person becomes frightened, heart rate
drops, blood levels drop, little blood reaches
brain, brain restarts, if you will, and boots
back up to speed to reach an adequate
blood flow level.

11. Lab 2
Heart Rate, Blood
Pressure,
and Exercise

12. DATA
Table 1- Baseline Blood Pressure
Systolic Diastolic Mean Pulse (bpm)
pressure pressure arterial
(mm Hg) (mm Hg) pressure
(mm Hg)
123 mm Hg 75 mm Hg 99 mm Hg 79 bpm

13. Table 2- Blood Pressure After Exercise
Systolic Diastolic Mean Pulse
pressure pressure arterial (bpm)
(mm Hg) (mm Hg) pressure
(mm Hg)
135 mm Hg 57 mm Hg 61 mm Hg 92 bpm

14. Table 3- Heart Rate
Condition Good
Resting heart rate (bpm) 92
Maximum heart rate 75
(bpm)
Recovery time (s) 2 minutes

15. DATA ANALYSIS
1. Describe the trends that occurred in the
systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, mean
arterial pressure and pulse with exercise.
Assume that the stroke volume increased from
75 mL/beat to 100 mL/beat. Use this information
and the change in pulse with exercise to
calculate the change in cardiac output (stroke
volume heart rate) that occurred per minute.
• 75 * 92= 6900
• 100*92= 9200
• 2300 cardiac output/minute

16. 2. Pulse pressure is the difference between
systolic pressure (peak pressure during active
contraction of the ventricles) and diastolic
pressure (the pressure that is maintained even
while the left ventricle is relaxing). Describe the
change in pulse pressure seen with exercise.
Which component of the blood pressure is most
responsible for this change?
- The systolic pressure went up by 8 mm Hg while
the diastolic pressure went down by 18 mm Hg. The
pulse pressure went up by 14 bpm after exercise.
The component of the blood pressure that is most
responsible is the contraction of the heart got
stronger thus making the pressure to go up.

17. 3. A change in pulse pressure can be seen in a
variety of medical conditions. What would you
expect to happen to the pulse pressure in the
following examples?
(a) In atherosclerosis there is a hardening of the
arterial walls.
- The Systolic pressure will drop because the aortic valve
cannot supply enough pressure.
(b) A damaged aortic valve does not seal properly
and allows blood to flow back into the ventricle
during diastole.
- Pulse pressure increases when the aortic valve is leaky.
This is because systolic pressure increases, the ventricle
pumps out more blood so the ventricle gets filled from
the atrium as well as by the leak and diastolic pressure
falls due to the leak.

18. 4. Normal resting heart rates range from
55−100 beats per minute. What was
your/the subject’s resting heart rate?
How much did your/the subject’s heart
rate increase above resting rate with
exercise? What percent increase was
this?
• Resting heart rate-78
• Resting rate with exercise- 92
• 92-78=14

19. 5. How does your/the subject’s maximum
heart rate compare with other students in
your group/class? Is this what you
expected?
- Some people’s heart rate increased by a
larger percentage than other people. Yes, it
is what we expected because not everyone
has the same heart rate to begin with.

20. 6. Recovery time has been shown to
correlate with degree of physical fitness.
How does your/the subject’s recovery
rate compare to that of your classmates?
Is this what you expected?
- For those people that do not exercise
regularly take a longer time to recover while
those who exercise regularly don’t take as
much time to recover.

21. 7. Congestive heart failure is a condition in
which the strength of contraction with each
beat may be significantly reduced. For
example, the ventricle may pump only half
the usual volume of blood with each beat.
Would you expect a person with congestive
heart failure to have a faster or slower heart
rate at rest? With exercise?
- I would expect it to be faster since it is
pumping half the blood with each beat with and
without exercise.

22. 8. Medications are available which can
slow the heart or speed it up. If a patient
complains of feeling poorly and has a
heart rate of 120 beats per minute,
should you administer a medicine to
slow the rate?
- Yes because then the patient won’t feel so
worn out all the time.