How Pulse Rate Is Affected By Lack Of Sleep

“How Pulse Rate is Affected By Lack of Sleep”
By Southern Illinois

Biology 200A
Section 8
Ashley Hintz
September 29, 2011
Results
The purpose of this experiment was to find out if sleep affects your pulse rate. My hypothesis for this experiment was the people with less than six hours of sleep will have a higher pulse rate. I predicted that if sleep effects pulse rate then a person who has less than six hours of sleep will have a higher pulse rate. Both of which are supported in tables 1 and 2. The average pulse rate for people with less than six hours of sleep was 75. This is just slightly higher than the plus rate of people with eight or more hour of sleep with an average of 73.67.

Table 1: Results of Step Test for All teams
(Pulse rates are beats per minute.)

Treatment 1: Less than 6 hours of sleep | Subject | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Average | Before step test(Pulse rate) | 56 | 68 | 86 | 72 | 80 | 89 | 75 | After step test(Pulse rate) | 100 | 94 | 142 | 120 | 172 | 96 | 120.67 | Recovery time (min) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.83 | Treatment 2: 8 hours or more of sleep | Subject | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Average | Before step test(Pulse rate) | 76 | 64 | 66 | 88 | 80 | 68 | 73.67 | After step test(Pulse rate) | 148 | 186 | 92 | 128 | 148 | 80 | 117 | Recovery time (min) | 1.5 | 2.15 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2.11 |
Table 2: Results of Step Test for All Teams (Pulse rates are beats per minute.)

Figure 1.
Pulse rate before and after step test for subjects with less than 6 hours of sleep.

Figure 2. Pulse rate before and after step test for subjects with 8 hours or more of sleep.
Disccusion My hypothesis for this experiment was the people with less than six hours of sleep will have a higher pulse rate.
I predicted that if sleep effects pulse rate then a person who has less than six hours of sleep will have a higher pulse rate. The purpose of this expericment was to find out if sleep affects your heart rate. The independent variable in the experiment was the ammount of sleep the subject had and the dependent varibale was the heart rate after exercise. The results proved my hypothesis correct. As you can see in tables 1 and 2, people with less than six hours of sleep had a higher pulse rate after exercising. Our experiment was very similar to the one described in “An Experimental Study of the Differentiation of Temperaments on a Basis of Rate and Strength “. They did all the same steps as our experiment just different steps during recovery time. Their results also has the same outcome as ours where the people who had less sleep had a higher pulse rate. Our bodies can’t run without sleep. Lack of sleep can be very detramental to the health of your heart. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. (Patrick, 1952) This is why the people with less than six hours had the higher pulse
rate. The results had a realtively low error rate. However, some things that could have affected our results might be how physically fit a person might be or if they have heart problem or any other medical issues. Another cause of error could also be from the subject not doing the treatment exercise correctly.

References Cited

Baxter, Frances M. "1. An Experimental Study of the Differentiation of Temperaments on a Basis of Rate and Strength." The American Journal of Psychology 38.1 (1967): 59-99. Print.

Patrick, G. T. W. "The Necessity for a New Standpoint in Sleep Theories." Psychological Review 9.3 (1952): 324-25. Print.