FACTORS AFFECTING PULSE RATE

Pulse rate is o ne of the vital signs taken in hospitals

Pulse rate is number of pulsing sensation occurring in one min
The volume of blood pumped by the heart is called cardiac output (CO)
CO is the product of heart rate HR and the ventricles stroke volume co=5l/min
1. AGE; the heart undergo changes with aging. Many changes are due to development of heart disorders,
which become more common with aging
As people age tends to enlarge slightly, developing thicker walls and slightly thicker chambers. This
increase in individual size of the heart muscles cells. Thicker all also become stiffer which does not allow
chambers to fill in more blood before each ventricles pumps.
During rest the older heart functions in most the same way as younger except the hear rat(no, of times the
heart beat within a minute)is slightly slower.
Before birth 140_150/min
After birth (newborn) 130_140/min
1st year 150-130/min
2nd year 100-115/min
3rth year90-10/min
4th-8th year86-90/min
8th-15th year 80-86/min
Teen60-100/min
Adult’s 70-80/min
Old age 60-70/min
2 GENDER; The human heart beats approximately 60-100/min in adults with notable difference between
the genders the average adults beats btw 70-72/min while women 78-82beats /min.This difference is
becoz of size of heart which is smaller in females than males. The smaller heart in women pumping less
blood with each beat, needs to beats faster to match the larger hearts output.
3EXERCISE ACTIVITY; when youre exercising your muscles need extra oxygen 3times as much as
resting. This means that your heart starts pumping faster which makes for a quicker pulse hence the
breathing your lungs also taking more air.
Getting out of breath while exercising is sign that your muscles are working. The more you do exercise
the more efficient your body will be at getting oxygen to your muscles. You can exercise more without
getting out of breath.
4BODY Build; Muscle people hearts pump a greater volume per stroke not more beats /min so their over
muscles heart are at risk of cardiopathy where muscles turns to scar tissues at the enlarged heart
eventually stops working.
5POSITION CHANGE; resting sitting or standing your pulse is usually the same sometimes as you stand
for first 15-20secs your pulse may go up a little but after couple of mins it shld settle down
6BASAL METABOLIC RATE (BMR) The amount that your body burns at any given time
is affected by metabolism is measured by kilojoules (kj).BMR even at rest the body needs energy (Kj) to
keep all its systems functioning correctly such as breathing. Keeping the heart beating beating circulates
blood growing and repairing cells and adjusting hormones levels BMR means the amount of energy your
body needs to maintain homeostasis. Average man has 7100kj per day women hasd5900kj.
BMR may be caused by body size, amount of lean muscles tissues muscles burns kjs rapidly, amnt of
body fat fat cells are sluggish and burns far fewer kjs than most other tissues and organs of the body.
7 BODY TEMPERATURE; An increase in body temp is followed by an increase in heart rate and
respiratory rate.sincethe warm weather creates a higher body temp it forces your heart to pump harder and
beat faster to reroute more blood to your skin. During the summer seasons your heart may circulate 2-4
times as much blood per min as I would in cooler seasons
Normal Tempe is 35,5-37.5 degrees.
8 PATHOLOGY; when the hearts beats too fast it may not pump enough blood to the rest of the body, as
a results the organs and tissues may not get enough oxygen, in general tachycardia may lead to the
sensation of a racing pounding heartbeat flopping in the chest palpitations
9INFECTION; its common for pulse rate to increase in response to an infection or fever. This happens as
the heart pumps harder to deliver oxygen and immune cells around the body helping to fight the infection.
Infections such as flu or covid-19 may cause heart to increase
10 EMOTIONS AND STRESS; emotional stress causes a negative chain reaction in the body. If angry,
anxious tense, frustrated, frightened or depressed your body natural response is to release stress hormone
e.g. cortisol, Adrenaline to prepare the body to deal with stress. This cause heart to beat more rapidly and
your blood vessels to narrow to help push blood to the the center of the body. Hormones also increases
BP and blood sugars. After stress subsides your BP and heart rate should return to normal.

HOW BLOOD PRESSURE CAN CAUSE DEATH (hypertensions)

Hypertension is one the common diseases in the world. This affect more than 30% of adults over age. It’s
a condition that occurs when the force of blood against the walls of arteries increases. This causes the
heart to pump harder and kidneys to retain salt and water, this results increases amount of fluids in the
body which leads to swelling
High blood pressure forces the heart to work harder to pump blood to the rest of the body. This causes the
lower left heart chamber ( l.V)to thinken.A thicken left ventricles increases the risk of heart attack hear t
failure and sudden cardiac death.