Name(s)
Homeostasis and Exercise Lab
Background: Your body’s temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure need to remain within certain set ranges.
In this lab, you will work in groups of 4 or 5 to examine the effects of exercise on the circulatory and respiratory
systems and on perspiration level. You will then observe how the body reacts when exercise is stopped.
Problem: How does exercise affect a person’s heart rate, breathing rate, and perspiration level?
Procedure:
1. Choose one volunteer to jump rope at a pace that can be maintained for eight minutes. Make sure the
volunteer is inactive for a few minutes before the experiment begins.
2. Measure the heart rate by taking his or her pulse. To take the pulse, place your 2nd and 3rd fingers on the
volunteer’s wrist where it meets the thumb. Press very lightly to feel the pulsations. Count the number of beats
in 15 seconds while another student uses a stopwatch to tell you when to start and stop.
3. Multiply the number of beats in 15 seconds by 4 to calculate the beats per minute. Record the data in the
Table 1 (at 0 minutes). (# of beats x 4 = beats per minute)
4. Rate the person’s perspiration level from 0 to 5 (0 = not perspiring, 5 = dripping). Record in Table 1.
5. Write a hypothesis about the effect of exercise on heart rate, breathing rate and perspiration. Remember that
a good hypothesis is a complete sentence explaining what you believe will happen. The hypothesis should also be
able to be read separate from this lab and still make sense!
Time (Min)
Heart Rate
(Beats/Min)
Perspiration Level
0
2
4
6
8
10 (rest)
6. Have the volunteer jump rope for 2 minutes. Caution: If the person jumping rope feels discomfort at any time,
stop the experiment and inform your teacher.
7. After 2 minutes, measure heart rate and perspiration level and record in the table. Take these measurements
as quickly as possible and have the volunteer resume exercising.
8. Repeat 3 more times and record your data at each point.
9. After the final recording, wait 2 minutes with the volunteer at rest. Then measure all the variables again and
record in the table.
Analyze and Conclude:
1. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
2. Graph the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. You may choose line graphs or bar
graphs. Make sure to give each graph a title, label the axes (and include a unit) and use an appropriate scale.
Please color code and provide a key.
3. In general, what type of relationship (direct or indirect) is shown between the duration of exercise and each of
the dependent variables?