Understanding Acute Cardiorespiratory Responses to Incremental Exercise

Learning outcomes tested  in this assignment  

1.Describe and discuss the acute cardio-respiratory responses to incremental exercise.

2.Describe the methodology to collect cardio-respiratory data during exercise.

Task details and instructions

You gain expertise in exercise physiology and we seek your consultation about the cardio-respiratory responses during an incremental exercise test to exhaustion and the physical fitness level for two participants.  

Each student should submit an individual report of, not including graphs, graph caption, tables, and the reference list based on the exercise dataset provided in this unit.

A background about the cardiorespiratory variables that limit exercise performance.

Methods

Describe the measurements of basic characteristics, haemoglobin and blood lactate using Biosen, metabolic data  using Douglas Bags or metalyzer, Heart Rate using Polar watch and Rated Perceived Exertion (dyspnoea) using modified Borg Scale during step incremental exercise protocol.  

Comprehensively discuss the physiological mechanisms responsible for the cardio-respiratory responses you see during exercise.  

Referencing throughout the abstract and presentation should be in Harvard format. A list of references should be present at the end of your report. Please, use only textbooks and peer reviewed journals for citations.

Your write up of the report will be an individual written report.

Week 1

• Douglas Bags, Dry Gas Meter and Servomex-

The Douglas Bags are used to collected expired air from your subject at rest and during different exercise intensities. The Dry Gas Meter is used to measure the amount of air expired at rest and during exercise. The Servomex is used to determine to percentage of expired air that is Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. Together, they are used to determine and measure metabolic data including ?O2, ?CO2 and ?E.

• Monark Cycle Ergometer

This is used to allow the subject to exercise at different intensities. The power or workload can be altered on the ergometer using different weights. For example, subject is cycling at 60 RPM with just the weight of the basket (=1kg) so the subject is working at 60 watts. To increase to 90 watts, add 0.5kg to the basket, taking the weight to 1.5kg and keeping RPM to 60 RPM. To increase to 120 watts, add a further 0.5kg to the basket, taking the weight to 2kg and keeping the RPM to 60 RPM.  

Week 2

• Vitalograph Electronic Spirometer- This is used to perform the FVC test on a subject and to determine the FEV1 value.

Week 3

• Biosen- This is used to determine the blood lactate levels at rest and during exercise. A finger prick blood sample is required for this.  

Week 4

• HemoCue- This is used to determine the total amount of Haemoglobin in a whole blood sample. The system uses a microcuvette to analyse the sample. The cuvette serves as a pipette, reaction vessel and a measuring cuvette. It’s units of measurement are g/L (grams per litre).
• Haematocrit- The Haematocrit test uses the Hawksley Haematospin centrifuge and the Hawksley Micro Haematocrit Reader to find out the % of total blood volume that is occupied by Red Blood Cells. This uses a finger prick blood sample.  

Week 5

• Polar HR Monitor- This is used to monitor a subject’s heart rate during exercise.

Week 6

• Cortex 3B Metalyzer- This is a cardiopulmonary exercise test system that uses breath-bybreath technology for metabolic testing. It can also measure HR by connecting to a heart rate measuring device. It allows for a functional analysis of a person’s lungs, metabolism and with additional add on features, a person’s heart, both at rest and under stress (during exercise).  

Additional Equipment not covered during virtual lab sessions but needed for method section

• BodyBox (or Plesmograph) - PULMONARY FUNCTION TESTING- Absolute Static Lung Volumes and Basic Spirometry
• Pulse Oximeter- measuring Oxygen saturation
• Cardiac Ultrasound- determining Stroke Volume