Breathing 2: Exercise & O2 Saturation
Breathing Cable and Pulse/PulseOx Setup
- Plug the red and black leads into the REACH color coded ports.
- Snap the leads onto the stickie electrodes, then place the stickie electrodes like this:
- The red lead goes lateral to the nipple, close to the left arm pit.
- The black lead goes lateral to the nipple, close to the right arm pit.
- Make sure you snap the leads onto the stickie electrodes before putting them on yourself.
- Keep the REACH-DL flat on the table and rest your pointer or middle finger of your non-dominant hand on the pulse port. This is the hand you do not use all the time. Make sure your arm is flat on the table and your finger is relaxed.
- When you are ready to start recording data, just make sure the you relax and sit very still so there is no movement interference on the data.
NOTE – It is best to either close your eyes or turn away from the computer while doing these activities.
Breathing Depth and Rate, and O2 Saturation at Rest
Aim
To determine the effect of breathing while resting on your breathing depth, breathing rate and oxygen saturation.
Procedure
- Sit quietly and breathe normally before and during the recordings to prevent the creation of motion artifacts. Sit straight during the recording. Make sure your finger is on the pulse/pulseox port.
NOTE – it can take 30 seconds or more for the O2 sensor to level out. If the reading is 80%, then the PulseOx has not registered. The reading should be in the 90s.
- Type "Breathing at Rest" in the Mark box.
- Click on the Record button. Press the mark button.
- Click the AutoScale All button. Record for at least two minutes.
- Click Stop to halt recording.
- Click File ---> Save As, name the file "Breathing-O2Sat", and save your data to your LabScribe Data folder on your Desktop.
Data Analysis
- Scroll through your recording of your breathing rate while at rest. Display at least 10 artifact-free breathing cycles.
- Click the "two mountains" icon to double the display time of the Main window to show the complete breathing cycles. You may have to click it more than once.
- Click AutoScale All.
- Click on the Analysis window icon in the toolbar.
- Look at the Table that is above the upper channel. The functions: V2-V1, T2-T1, Max, Min, and Mean, should appear in this table. Values for these four parameters are seen in the table across the top margin of each channel.
- Click on and drag the cursors so they are on either side of all 10 breathing waves.
- The values for the following parameters on a breath cycle are determined when the cursors are placed at the two positions described in Step 6:
- Maximum Oxygen Saturation Level, the value for Max on the O2 Saturation channel.
- Minimum Oxygen Saturation Level, the value for Min on the O2 Saturation channel.
- Mean Oxygen Saturation Level, the value for Mean on the O2 Saturation channel.
- Maximum Breathing Rate, the value for Max on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Minimum Breathing Rate, the value for Min on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Mean Breathing Rate, the value for Mean on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Measure your depth of breathing. Place 1 cursor on the peak of one breath and the 2nd cursor on the trough after that breath – measure V2-V1 on the Respiration channel. Repeat for 2 breaths and calculate the average.
- Put your data in a table or in the Journal. Open and close the Journal by clicking on the "Notebook" icon.
- Click the "M" icon to go back to the Main window before moving to Exercise 2. You will also need to reset your display time to 10 seconds by typing 10 in the Display Time box and clicking Enter.
Breathing and Pulse Oxygen Saturation After Exercising
Aim
To measure the breathing rate and oxygen saturation immediately after exercise.
Procedure
- After finishing Exercise 1, carefully unsnap the leads from the stickies. Leave the stickies on.
- Exercise for at least 10 minutes - do jumping jacks, go run around, or do some other form of exercise. You should have a very elevated heart rate and be breathing deeply when you are done.
- As soon as your are done exercising, sit down and resnap the leads onto the stickies. Keep the REACH-DL flat on the table and rest your pointer or middle finger of your non-dominant hand on the pulse port. This is the hand you do not use all the time. Make sure your arm is flat on the table and your finger is relaxed.
- Click Record. Click AutoScale. While recording, type “0 sec” in the Mark box and click the Mark button.
- Continue recording until your breathing rate has returned to normal or for 5 minutes, whichever comes first.
- Enter marks every 1 minute by typing "1", "2", "3", etc... in the Mark area and click the Mark button.
- Click Stop after 5 minutes even if the your breathing rate has not returned to normal.
- Click Save to save your data.
Data Analysis
- Go to the beginning of your recording by clicking on the down arrow just to the right of the Mark Button and click the mark "After Exercise". This will bring you to right when you sat down after exercising.
- Make sure to have at least 10 breathing cycles on screen. Double or half the display time by clicking the mountain icons once or twice.
- Move the cursors so they are on either side of all 10 breathing cycles.
- Record the following information from the O2 Saturation and the Breathing Rate channels:
- Maximum Oxygen Saturation Level, which is the value for Max on the O2 Saturation channel.
- Mean Oxygen Saturation Level, which is the value for Mean on the O2 Saturation channel.
- Maximum Breathing Rate, which is the value for Max on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Minimum Breathing Rate, which is the value for Min on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Mean Breathing Rate, which is the value for Mean on the Breathing Rate channel.
- Measure your depth of breathing. Place 1 cursor on the peak of one breath and the 2nd cursor on the trough after that breath – measure V2-V1 on the Respiration channel. Repeat for 2 breaths and calculate the average.
- Click the "M" icon on the toolbar to get back to the Main recording screen.
- Record your data in a table or in the Journal. You can open and close the Journal by clicking the "Notebook" icon.
- Click the down arrow to the right of the Mark button and click "1" to bring you to the section of data 1 minute after sitting down. Then click the Analysis button to go back into the Analysis window.
- Repeat the data analysis for this section of data. Measure the same parameters as above. Click the “M” icon to get back to the Main window.
- Move through the sections of data by clicking the down arrow by the Mark button and choosing the next mark ("2", "3" etc…) and then go back into the Analysis window. Measure the same parameters for each 1 minute interval throughout the recovery period. Stop when your breathing rate returned to normal and note down how long that took.
NOTE - Write all your values on a data table or in the Journal so you can refer back to them when answering the questions. You can open and close the Journal by clicking the "Notebook" icon.