I do not think that my demand for oxygen was increased prior to the commencement of the test because I really wasn’t nervous or anticipant which for other people may have led to their heart rate to increase even before the physical aspects of the test had begun. During the test my respiratory activity increased to facilitate for my demand of increased oxygen consumption. Greater volumes of air were being consumed during the test. For example; I reached level 10, shuttle 2 in the test.
My breathing rate had more than doubled over the intercourse of the test. The total output by the heart known as cardiac output also increased during the test and may have reached up to 25 litres per minute. During the test, the supply of oxygen was increased so that my muscles could continue working. While the test was occurring a greater demand was placed on the heart to pump and circulate blood around the body and to the muscles quicker. My oxygen uptake increased due to the physical demands of the test.
Oxygen uptake is how much oxygen my muscles were able to take up when working in conjunction with one another. For example; my VO2 immediately after the test was 47 millilitres per minute on average in comparison to 3. 5 millilitres when at rest. Gaseous exchange also occurred during the test. As I inhaled oxygen through the lungs eventuating into the blood, the capillaries then had a greater concentration of carbon dioxide rather than oxygen and diffusion to the alveoli allowed me to breathe out this carbon dioxide.
The greater demand for oxygen is also exemplified by the fact that my results showed that my breathing rate increased up to 182 beats per minute in comparison to 60 which was my resting heart rate (diagram 1). Not only were changes occurring to the circulatory and respiratory systems at the start and end of the test however throughout the test my body was adapting to the exercise as intensity increased. Although my heart rate and respiration rates were not recorded midway of the test, I could notice that both were gradually increases.
For example when I was out of breath, my respiratory system had performed to the maximum of its potential. Whilst completing the test my systolic pressure, cardiac output and stroke volume also increased to meet the demands that my body had placed on these systems. For example; the muscles became responsible for up to 85-90 per cent of the cardiac output whereas at rest the other tissues took on this role. Our circulatory and respiratory systems’ working together is what enabled my performance in the beep test.
Whilst the blood flowing to my lungs was increased by the functioning of the circulatory system, my respiratory system made it possible for a greater volume of air to flow into my lungs through inspiration and expiration to meet the demand of oxygen that was required for my body to perform this task *Graph displaying that exercise rapidly increased heart rate and respiration rates after five minutes of recovery heart rate was the same as it was prior to commencing the test.
The stress that had been previously placed on the heart was reducing when the test finished. The body was no longer exercising thus when exercise is over, the heart rate drops quickly and then gradually returns to the resting heart rate. Carbon dioxide levels are reduced during the recovery period and oxygen levels are increased. For example; the following table demonstrates how after minute intervals my heart rate continued to decrease and after 5 minutes both my respiration and heart rates were already back to my reasting rates.