Analogy for understanding the regulation of heart rate

Think of a cyclist going downhill. They can control their speed by means of
their brakes and their pedals. The sped of the bike is similar to the speed of the
heartbeat. The brakes on the bike are like the vagus nerve (The vagus nerve is
responsible for the regulation of internal organ functions, such as digestion,
heart rate, and respiratory rate, as well as vasomotor activity, and certain
reflex actions, such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing, and vomiting) and ten
pedals are like the sympathetic nerve ( to stimulate the body’s fight or flight
response).

The hormone adrenaline is released from the adrenal glands in times of stress
and affects the San, mimicking the action of the sympathetic in that it speeds
up heart rate and strength of contraction. When you are getting ready to
exercise, or preparing to compete you invariably think of what is going to
happen and this can increase your level of arousal which in turn leads to a
release of adrenaline in anticipation of exercise. This causes an anticipatory
rise in heart rate.

During rest and normal heart rate of 75 beats per minute, the cardiac cycle
lasts 8 seconds (60 seconds ÷ 75 beats). Most of the time is taken
up with the heart filling during diastole (5 seconds) and a much smaller time
period (about 3 seconds) is for systole. This averages at about five litres per
minute for a resting male.

During exercise your heart rate increases. This increase in in direct proportion
to the intensity of the work you are undertaking, until nearing exhaustion,
when your heart rate starts to level off, giving you a maximum heart rate. An
estimate of maximum heart rate may be made by subtracting your age from
220.

The increase in stroke volume that occurs when exercising is due to two
mechanisms.

Firstly, it is known that if more blood enters the ventricles during diastole then
the walls of the ventricle will correspondingly stretch and contract more
forcefully. This is Starling’s law of the Heart. The increase in blood flow into the
heart is as a result of venous return which occurs as a result of blood flowing
faster around the body. Secondly, at higher workload intensities, it appears
that the cardiac muscle contracts with greater force. This occurs to combat the
shortened duration of diastole, meaning there is less time to fill the heart with
blood. Because the heart does not have enough time to fill while it is relaxed,
there is a stronger, more forceful contraction to make sure more of the
contents of each ventricle is expelled from the heart.

Regulation of heart rate

The increase in heart rate that accompanies exercise is due to the action of the
sympathetic nerves on the SAN. But what causes these nerves to increase their
firing? It should be noted, there are many different stimuli that affect heart
rate:

 Increase brain activity

 Increased blood pressure
 Detection of movement
 Decreased levels of oxygen in the blood

Exercise increases the blood carbon dioxide levels in the blood, which in turn
increases acidity of the blood. These changes in blood chemistry are detected
by chemoreceptors found mainly in the carotid arteries. These receptors send
nerve impulses to the cardiac center in the medulla in the brain which in turn
adjusts the nerve stimulation in the SAN with decreased vagal and increased
sympathetic impulses to increase the heart rate.

Reduction in heart rate is most likely due to the increase in drop in blood
pressure which would be detected by baroreceptors found again in the carotid
arteries, which via the medulla, increase vagal tone and decrease sympathetic
stimulation

Effects of training

The effects of training on the heart are to change the parameters involved so
that exercising becomes easier. Thus training, especially endurance training
over months/years causes the heart to increase in size, especially in terms of
the thickness of cardiac muscle in the ;left ventricle. Therefore this
enlargement is caused by both an increase in thickness of the cardiac muscle
in the ventricular wall and an increase in size of the ventricular chamber. A
less dramatic increase is found in power trained athletes. These two changes
mean that the hypertrophied heart is capable of increased filling during the
diastole (resting) phase and increase strength of contraction as a result of
thicker cardiac muscle.

Stroke volume also increases as a result of training. There is a greater blood

volume available in the body as a result of training and hence venous return
during exercise becomes greater and starling’s law tells us that will in
increased force of contraction, meaning more blood is ejected from the heart
with each beat. Add this to a stronger heart andit is easy to see that resting
and exercising stroke volume increases with training.

Training reduces resting heart rate. Highly conditioned athletes have been
known to have resting heart rate of below 30 beats per minute. Clinically, a
resting heart rate below 60 beats per minute is known as bradycardia. It is
usually suggested that the reduction in resting heart rate is due to training
increasing resting stroke volume. Thus heart rate must decrease to balance the
increase in stroke volume. Extensive endurance type training will also decrease
the maximum heart rate because the high cardiac output demanded by the
body during maximum exertion can be maintained with a lower heart rate due
to the increase in stroke volume.

So, how do these changes benefit the performer? Perhaps surprisingly, it is

mainly a s a result of low demand for oxygen by the heart. The heart functions
as a working muscle. The harder it works the oxygen t requires to generate
energy. With trainng the heart rate decreases and therefore less energy and
consequently lessoxygen is required by the heart muscle, leaving more oxygen
available to the other working muscles.

The trained individual’s exercising heart rate is lower than the untrained
person for any given workload. Increasing the workload means that there is a
need for an increased cardiac output. In untrained individuals, this is mainly
achieved by increasing heart rate, but I trained individuals it is achieved by an
increased ejection fraction.

The increase in cardiac output that occurs during prolonged exercise is also
due to sweating and the increased oxygen need for energy to assist the skin in
cooling the body.

Blood pressure

Blood moves around the circulatory system by the pumping action of the heart.
To do this the blood has to be under pressure. The blood pressure must be
higher in the arteries than in the veins because the blood starts its journey
from the heart and arteries. A sphygmomanometer is a device used to measure
the blood flow in an artery. The device puts pressure on an artery wall by
squashing it. When blood pressure is measured, there are two readings such
as 120/80. The bigger number is the systolic pressure or the pressure when
the heart contracts and the lower number, is the diastole pressure, when the
heart relaxes.

Several factors can affect blood pressure

 Age: Blood pressure is always much lower in children than adults

because the artery walls lose some elasticity as we age.
 Sex: readings between males and females differ
 Stress and tension: stressful situations can cause blood pressure to rise.
Extreme emotions can also cause high blood pressure .
 Exercise: As people exercise the blood pressure rises because the heart
has to pump harder and faster.
 Any circulatory system disorders: If the heart is weak or there are
problems with blood vessels, blood pressure may increase.
 Smoking: smoking causes high blood pressure and coronary artery
disease

Reducing high blood pressure

There are four ways to reduce high blood pressure

 Take regular exercise: Regular exercise also exercise the heart

 Stop smoking
 Avoid or reduce stress: Think of ways to adjust your lifestyle to manage
stress
 Follow a sensible diet combined with exercise to control weight.