Cardiovascular Fitness (Designing an Experiment) - Essay Example

Cardiovascular Fitness (Designing an Experiment) Cardiovascular diseases have been associated to the increasing cases of obesity among children and adolescent as they approach adulthood (Olshanky and others 2005) cited in. However, little attention has been focused towards establishing the effect of excessive body fat and its negative impact on cardiac fitness (Rowland, 2007). Due to excessive fats there are high risks of coronary artery conditions such as renal-vascular diseases, hypertension and stroke coupled to other non-circulatory disorders.

Body fatness and aerobic fitness are intertwined and have been reported as potential risk factors towards the health outcome of an individual (Goran and others 2000). Among the two factors, aerobic fitness has been reported as the primary factor determining future outcome of diseases (Goran and others 2000). However, it is important to understand the relationship between aerobic fitness and fatness towards establishing their role in causation of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular risk has also been linked to weight and dissociated from the widely accepted norm that being fat and fit is acceptable in cardiac health.

Excess weight in most cases may be associated with high levels of cholesterol and alteration in the cardiac function. 1.Ha: Excess weight affect cardiovascular fitness by increasing the pulse rate and recovery time. 2.Ho: Excess weight will not affect cardiovascular fitness The experiment involved two subjects who were selected from among the group. The inclusion criteria dwelt on involving subjects who had respiratory and/or circulatory conditions. Exercise which was part of the experiment may be significantly compromised in these individuals.

Pulse rate for treatment I (with weight) and for treatment II (without weight) were taken before the start of the experimental exercise and entered in a table. The experimental exercise involved making the subject step up and down for three minutes at constant rate of 24-30 steps per minute on a low platform. Immediately the 3 minutes were over, the pulse rates were recorded again and entered into a table as raw data for further analysis. The pulse rates were taken from the radial artery. This was done by making a tally of the number of beats in 30 seconds and multiplying this value by two.

Subsequent measurements were taken at intervals of 1 minute for another three times. 3. Result text The pulse rate before the exercise was slow but it was elevated following the 3 minutes exercise in the two treatments. However, the mean pulse rate in treatment two was higher than in treatment one (see table 1). The trend in pulse rate indicates that individuals with excess weight will have high pulse rate and longer recovery time after exercise (see figure 1 and figure 2). Mean recovery time was higher in treatment II at 3.

25 minutes as compared to treatment I with 2.50 minutes. Overall standard error from the mean (SEM) was observed to at the highest from pulse measurements taken after the exercise. This value was higher in treatment I than in treatment II. Overall all treatment I recorded elevated means in the measurements of pulse rate before and after the exercise than treatment II without weight. This trend was also replicated in the recovery time with