TheEffectofClimate

onHeartRate

BriStump,SarahSchultzandDaniPuccio
2/16/15

Abstract
Thepurposeoftheexperimentwastodiscoverthe
effectsofclimateonheartrate.Thetestsubjecttooktheir
restingheartrateandthenranforoneminuteinthecold.
Afterrunningtheirheartratewastakenagain.Thisseries
ofstepswasrepeatedthreetimesinatemperatureof30
degreesfahrenheitandanadditionthreetimesata
temperatureof70degreesfahrenheit.Theresultsshowed
thatthesubjectsheartrateincreasedmorewhenrunning
inthecold.Toconclude,coldweatherhasagreatereffect
onheartratethanwarmtemperature.

Background
Priortoconductingtheexperiment,classworkand
researchprovidedthebasisofinformationaboutthe
circulatorysystem.Thepathofbloodwasstudiedthrough
thecreationofaheartboxdiagramthatshowedtheflow
ofoxygenatedanddeoxygenatedbloodthroughthebody.
Followingthecreationofthediagram,adissectionofa
sheepheartwasconductedtoprovideamoredetailed
knowledgeaboutthestructuresandfunctionsoftheheart.

Throughpastexperienceitwasknownthatphysical

activitysignificantlyelevatesheartrate,buttheeffectsof
climatewereunknown.Thegoalofthisexperimentwasto
investigatehowclimateaffectsheartratewhenexercising
incoldandwarmtemperature.

Hypothesis
Heartratewhenrunningincoldweatherwillbeslower
thanwhenrunninginwarmweather.

MaterialsandMethods
Materials:
Computerequippedwithloggerprosoftware
Heartratemonitor
Testsubject
Method:
1. Determinetherestingheartrateofsubject.
2. Runindoorsat70degreesfahrenheitforoneminute.
3. Takeheartrate
4. Restuntilheartratereturnstonormal
5. repeatsteps14twomoretimes.Makesuretorecord
alldata.
6. Determinetherestingheartrateofsubject.
7. Runoutdoorsat30degreesfahrenheitforone
minute.
8. Takeheartrate

9. Restuntilheartratereturnstonormal
10. Repeatsteps69twomoretimes.Makesureto
recordalldata.

Results
Thedatarevealedthatrunningincoldweather
actuallyraisedtheheartrateofthetestsubjectmorethan
runninginwarmweather.Thenetchangeofthesubjects
pulsewasgreaterineachofthethreetrialsforcold
weather.

WarmWeather
restingafterrunnetchange
trial1

75

150

75

trial2

80

154

74

trial3

78

166

88

ColdWeather

resting

afterrun

netchange

trial1

72

170

98

trial2

66

166

100

trial3

70

160

90

Discussion
Coldweatherrequiresthehearttopumpfasterand
hardertokeepbloodincirculationduringrunningand
othercardiovascularactivities.Somesourcesofpossible
errorarethatthetestsubjectdidnotrunforexactlyone
minuteeachtimeandthepulsereadingcouldhavebeen
slightlyinaccuratebecausetheLoggerProsoftwaredidnt
workproperlyeachtime.Somesuggestionsforfuture
trialsarehavingasetrunningpathandnotatimed
amountofexerciseandfindamorereliablewayto
measureheartrate.

Conclusion
Runningincoldweatherincreasedheartratemorethan
runningincoldweather.