Have you ever wondered how the heart responds to exercise? Well, Bec and Asa took part in some fun and insightful experiments to show you just how your heart functions in different scenarios. In this hands-on demonstration, Dr. Rina Fu walks us through how to observe the heart’s behaviour during rest and after a bit of exercise.
First, the Resting Heart Rate
To kick things off, we start by measuring our heart rate at rest. Sounds simple, right? But as we quickly discovered, it’s not always so easy to stay calm! Bec was a little nervous about the results. So, what does a normal resting heart rate look like? It’s typically between 60-100 beats per minute for most adults. However, when you’re feeling a bit stressed, as Bec was, the heart rate may spike higher than expected. It’s important to remember that everyone is different—heart rate can vary depending on various factors such as stress, fitness levels, or even just thinking about a medical test!
Time to Get Moving: Measuring the Heart After Exercise
Next up: exercise! After recording our baseline resting heart rate, we jumped into a quick workout challenge. We didn’t do anything too intense, just some star jumps, push-ups, and burpees to get the blood pumping.
Once we finish the exercise, our heart rate shoots up! The heart works harder to pump blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen to muscles and removing waste products like carbon dioxide.
Why does this happen? When you exercise, your muscles demand more oxygen, and your body needs to burn energy. The heart works harder to meet this demand, which is why you’ll notice your pulse increasing post-exercise. You might even hear your heart’s beat loud and clear through a stethoscope—this indicates the increased force behind each beat.
How Did We Do?
After a minute of exercise, we quickly checked our heart rates again. Post-exercise, everyone’s heart rate was higher, as expected. But the differences were subtle: some had a higher increase than others. This can indicate different fitness levels or how much effort was put into the workout.
Interestingly, those who have a lower resting heart rate might be fitter. For instance, Bec’s resting heart rate was on the lower side, suggesting a good baseline level of fitness.
What Does This All Mean?
The takeaway on how the heart responds to exercise? Exercise is good for your heart! Regular physical activity helps improve heart health by lowering your resting heart rate over time and increasing your heart’s efficiency. So, don’t just aim for low numbers on a monitor—focus on creating a healthy, active lifestyle. Your heart will thank you for it!
And the best part? You can try this experiment at home with your family and friends. See how their heart rates compare after resting and exercising. You might just discover a new way to measure fitness in your daily routine!
In the end, we all walked away with a healthier understanding of how our hearts work—plus, a few new tips to keep that ticker in top shape.
Listen to the full experiment below!