Pulse Rate, Temperature, Respiration and Control of Peripheral - Essay Example

When sick, body temperature rises to about 20 degrees higher to kill the pathogens. In high temperatures, the body can be cooled off through sweating and wearing a jacket and when temperatures are low, they can be heated by wearing a jacket and shivering.

The pulse is the periodic dilation of the artery that is produced by the rhythmic opening and closing of the aortic valve in the heart. It can be felt through the application of pressure by firm fingertips to the skin where the arteries travel near the surface of the skin. The common pulse points are the radial artery in the wrist, the brachial artery inside the elbow, and the carotid artery of the neck (Yagiela, 1995). Pulse rates differ from one person to another and it decreases with age. Alterations between normal and weak pulses indicate heart failure while rapid pulses indicate serious cardiac diseases, vigorous exercises, or a relatively mild fever. Head injuries may result in slow pulse rates though this is exceptional in highly trained athletes who were slow pulse rate is considered normal. The maximal heart rate is 200 beats/min which is in young people. The maximal heart rate is determined genetically and cannot be modified by exercise or by external factors.

According to Yagiela (1995) respiration is the process through which the body acquires oxygen and in turn removes carbon dioxide through the nasal cavity into the lungs (Lombardi, Lown, and Verrier, 2005). This simple exchange of gases occurs through a process known as diffusion which requires a concentration gradient. Oxygen concentration has to be kept at higher levels in the alveoli than in the blood and the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood has to be kept at higher levels than in the alveoli. This is done through the active process of breathing that calls for the contraction of the skeletal muscles including the diaphragm and the external intercostal muscles. The intercostal muscles are located in between the ribs while the diaphragm is the muscle sheet between the abdominal cavity and the thoracic cavity.

The contraction of the external intercostals muscles entails elevation of ribs and sternum leading to an increased front-to-back thoracic cavity dimension that lowers the air pressure in the lungs hence letting air into the lungs while the contraction of the diaphragm entails a downward movement of the diaphragm increasing thoracic cavity’s vertical dimension hence lowering the pressure in the lungs and letting air into the lungs too.

According to Beverley J. Hunt in 2002, total peripheral resistance is the sum of all peripheral vasculature in systematic circulation (Lombardi, Lown, and Verrier, 2005). Peripheral resistance is the resistance to the passage of blood via small blood vessels and is controlled by two mechanisms known as vasoconstriction which includes the narrowing of blood arteries (large arteries and small arterioles) and vasodilation which refers to the widening/increase in the diameter of blood vessels to escalate the flow of blood. Vasodilation decreases peripheral resistance by increasing blood flow by decreasing vascular resistance .vasoconstriction increases peripheral resistance in people who have hypocapnia on arteries and peripheral blood vessels. Read More