Blood Pressure, Heart Rate Lab
Objectives: Observe how your heart rate and blood pressure reacts to exercise.
Blood pressure is a measure of two pressures, systolic and diastolic. Systolic pressure is the
top number and is the pressure exerted on the blood vessel walls when the heart beats.
Diastolic pressure is the pressure that is exerted on the blood vessel walls, and is measured
between the heart beats. Diastolic pressure is the bottom number of the blood pressure
reading.
Equipment:
Lab sheet, Pencil/Pen, Stopwatch, Stethoscope, Blood Pressure Cuff
Procedure:
1. After resting for 5 minutes take and record your resting heart rate.
2. Take and record your resting blood pressure.
Blood Pressure:
 Put the cuff on with the arm in a straight relaxed position, with forearm resting on the
desk.
 Find the pulse with the stethoscope on the inside of the elbow.
 Close the valve next to the bulb and pump up the cuff until you can not hear the pulse.
 Open the valve slightly and allow the cuff to deflate slowly.
 While the cuff is slowly deflating listen for the pulse. When you first hear the pulse,
make a mental note of what number is registered on the gauge. This is the systolic
pressure.
 Continue to listen to the pulse until the beat fades. Note this pressure on the gauge.
This is the diastolic pressure.
 Open the valve and release the rest of the air from the cuff and then take off the cuff.
3. List your heart rate on the board and record the class average.
4. The entire class will then spend a little time running up and down the stairs.
5. At the end of the stairs everyone will take his/her pulse at the same time. The instructor
will give you the count down.
6. Return to your seat and remain calm, we will take pulse rates as the body recovers.
Record these rates in your data table.
7. After taking the recovering heart rate, you will need to run the stairs again. Three times
down and up. Have a member of your group ready to take your blood pressure.
8. Record your “after exercise” blood pressure in your data table.
9. Graph your heart rate starting with your resting rate, then immediate, then 1 min, 2 min,
etc
10. Address the questions on your data sheet.
Name __________________________pd___
Data Hypothesis:
Table:
Time
Resting
Immediate
1 minute
2 minutes
3 minutes
4 minutes
5 minutes
6 minutes
7 minutes
8 minutes
After Exercise
Heart Rate (bpm)
Resting Blood
Pressure
“After Exercise”
Blood Pressure
Questions: Support your answers with physiological evidence.
1. What changes did you observe in your heart rate after exercising? What caused these
changes?
2. From your data, what can you infer about exercise and respiration? (How are they related,
interdependent?)
3. What do the changes in heart rate and respiration indicate about how the human body
accommodates exercise? (Describe the physiological changes.)
4. What factors affect recovery time? How?
5. How would an Olympic athlete’s data (under the same conditions) vary from yours? Why?
6. Calculate your maximum heart rate. (220 – your age) ________________bpm
7. Calculate your minimum training rate. (maximum heart rate x .60) ______bpm
8. Calculate your maximum training rate. (maximum heart rate x .85) ______bpm