Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise in Humans

Students can use PowerLab data acquisition systems in undergraduate and advanced teaching laboratories to measure some of the important indicators of cardiovascular fitness, such as heart rate and recovery time. A simple investigation of the effects of exercise on cardiovascular function is available from the Experiments section. Additional teaching experiments are available on Blood Pressure and Electrocardiograms in Humans.

The Electrocardiogram is recorded using the Shielded Bio Amp Cable and Shielded lead wires. Physical activity that requires a lot of movement can contaminate an ECG signal with movement artifact, however, this can be minimized by placing the electrodes on the chest and back. Using this configuration, the positive electrode is positioned on the lower left rib cage, the negative electrode on the upper right corner of the chest and the reference electrode positioned on the back at the level corresponding to the first thoracic vertebrae. Pulse recordings can be made using a Piezo Electric Pulse Transducer, IR Plethysmograph Finger Clip or the IR Plethysmograph Ear Clip.

Heart rate from an ECG signal or pulse recording can be calculated online using the Computed Input function or offline using the Cycle Variables feature in LabChart software. Advanced ECG analysis may be performed using the Heart Rate Variability Module (Win or Mac) .

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