Lowering Your Pulse Rate

Cooling Off

Carly Murphy

Procedure

• 1. I would gather test subjects all in the same grade

  2. I would gather all of their heart rates before anything for a control

  3. One at a time they would run on a treadmill for 60 seconds and I would get there heart rate after

  4. Right after they run I would start putting them through one method

  5. Everyone would go with that one method

  6. I would repeat steps 3-5 for each method

  7. I would gather all of these increases and decreases and make an average for each method

Question

What ways can help slow down heart rates after exercising?

Hypothesis

I thought that the best way to slow down your heart rate was to breath, because whenever people need to catch their breath they always stop and focus on breathing.

Abstract

Slowing down your heart beat after a workout can be difficult. That is why finding out a way was a goal of mine. I thought that the best way to slow down your heart rate was to breath, because whenever people need to catch their breath they always stop and focus on breathing.

When working on my experiment, I gathered seventh graders and they each ran for one minute to speed up their heart. After each person was done running they were put into one of the several test for 30 seconds. The tests that I used to lower each person's heart rate were, focussing on breathing, cooling off in front of a fan, hydration, sitting, and walking around with hands on head. Each test required its own set of data that was recorded. Once each seventh grader did that for each test, I calculated the results and found the averages.

Overall, Focussing on breathing worked the best with lowering the heart rate of seventh graders. Drinking water after a workout for thirty seconds was the worst for slowing down the heart rate. Each method was used for thirty seconds, and had different effects. Focussing on breathing had an average of lowering the heart rate to 42 BPM. Standing in front of a fan decreased the heart rate an average of 7.6 BPM. An increase of 10 BPM was the heart rate average for hydration. Sitting down decreased the heart rate an average of 7.8 BPM. With an average of 29.4 BPM, walking around with hand on head took second place. With each average, the data helped me draw a conclusion.

Doing this project helped me and others see which ways are the best for slowing down heart rate. This could be useful for after exercising, so you can lower your heart rate faster. My hypothesis was correct because, with a average decrease of 42 BPM, focussing on breathing lowered people BPM more than other methods. During this project obstacles like different speeds of running, or physical injuries could alter my experiment. For future experiments, making sure everyone is going the same speed, and no physical injuries with seventh graders could help improve my experiment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, finding out a way to lower people's heart rate was a success. Focussing on breathing was the most effective way to lower heart rate. Using the beats per minute (BPM) helped me figure out my data. What surprised me the most was that drinking water after exercising for 30 seconds, increased the BPM. My hypothesis was correct because, with a average decrease of 42 BPM, focussing on breathing lowered people’s BPM more than other methods. My final data could help runners and kids lower their heart rate back to normal after exercising or running. Running inside was a better ways to collect data, rather than outside. During this project obstacles like physical injuries,the room temperature and different speeds of running could have altered my experiment. For future experiments, making sure everyone is going the same speed, and no physical injuries with seventh graders could help improve my experiment.