Breathing 1: Rest & Exercise

Breathing at Rest and Heart Rate

Aim

To determine the effect of breathing while resting on your heart rate and the change in heart rate during respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA).

Procedure

1. Sit quietly and breathe normally before and during the recordings to prevent the creation of motion artifacts. Sit straight during the recording.
2. Type "Breathing at Rest" in the Mark box.
3. Click on the Record button. Press the mark button.
4. Click the AutoScale All button. Record for at least two minutes.
5. Click Stop to halt recording.
6. Click File ---> Save As, name the file "Breathing-Rest&Exercise", and save your data to your LabScribe Data folder on your Desktop.

Data Analysis

1. Scroll through your recording of your breathing and heart rate while at rest. Display at least five or six artifact-free breathing cycles.
2. 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.

3. Click AutoScale All.
4. Click on the Analysis window icon in the toolbar.
5. Look at the Table that is above the upper channel. The functions, Max-Min, 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.

6. Click on and drag one cursor to the trough before the inhalation of the first breath cycle displayed on the Respiration channel, and the other cursor to the trough before the inhalation of the second breath cycle.
7. 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 Heart Rate, which is the value for Max on the Heart Rate channel.
• Minimum Heart Rate, which is the value for Min on the Heart Rate channel.
• Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) Prominence or the difference between the minimum and maximum heart rates during a breath cycle, which is the value for Max-Min on the Heart Rate channel.
• Mean Heart Rate, which is the value for Mean on the Heart Rate channel.
• Mean Breathing Rate, which is the value for Mean on the Breathing Rate channel.
8. Repeat for the next two breaths.
9. Rate your aerobic fitness level as high, moderate, or low. Note this rating along with the your normal breathing technique on a data table or in the Journal.
• You can open the Journal by clicking the "Notebook" icon and enter the information in the table. Click the icon again to close the Journal.
10. 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 Exercise

Aim

To measure the breathing and heart rates immediately after exercise.

Procedure

1. After finishing Exercise 1, carefully unsnap the leads from the stickies. Leave the stickies on.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Click Record. Click AutoScale. While recording, type "0 sec" in the Mark box and click the Mark button.
5. Continue recording until your breathing and heart rates have returned to normal or for 5 minutes, whichever comes first.
• Enter marks every 30 seconds by typing "30", "60", "90", etc..., in the Mark area and click the Mark button.
6. Click Stop after 5 minutes even if the your breathing and heart rates have not returned to normal.
7. Click Save to save your data.

Data Analysis

1. 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 "0 seconds". This will bring you to right when you sat down after exercising.
2. Make sure to have at least 5 breathing cycles on screen. Double or half the display time by clicking the mountain icons. You may have to click it more than once.

3. You will be moving the vertical red cursors into position by clicking and dragging on them to get them into the right locations.
4. Click on and drag one cursor to the trough before the inhalation of the first breath cycle displayed on the Respiration channel, and the other cursor to the trough before the inhalation of the second breath cycle.
5. The values for the following parameters during normal breathing are determined when the cursors are placed at the two positions described in Step 4:
• Maximum Heart Rate, which is the value for Max on the Heart Rate channel.
• Minimum Heart Rate, which is the value for Min on the Heart Rate channel.
• Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) Prominence or the difference between the minimum and maximum heart rates during a breath cycle, which is the value for Max-Min on the Heart Rate channel.
• Mean Heart Rate, which is the value for Mean on the Heart Rate channel.
• Mean Breathing Rate, which is the value for Mean on the Breathing Rate channel.
6. Repeat for the next two breaths in this section of data.

8. Click the "M" icon on the toolbar to get back to the Main recording screen.
9. Click the down arrow to the right of the Mark button and click "30 sec" to bring you to the section of data 30 seconds after sitting down.
10. Repeat the data analysis for this section of data by clicking the Analysis icon. Measure the same parameters as above.
11. Move through all the sections of data by clicking back to the Main window and then the down arrow by the Mark button and choosing the next mark ("60", "90" etc...). Go into the Analysis window.
12. Measure the same parameters for each 30 second interval throughout the recovery period. Stop when your breathing and heart rates returned to normal and note down how long that took.
13. Place all data in a data table or in the Journal. You can open and close the Journal by clicking the "Notebook" icon.

Answer the following:

Exercise 1

1. The difference between the heart rates during a breath cycle is known as RSA prominence. What is your average RSA prominence?
2. What percentage of the pre-inhalation heart rate is the RSA prominence?
3. Does your estimated aerobic fitness level correlate with your RSA prominence? You may have to look in your textbook or online for more information.

Exercise 2

1. The difference between the heart rates during a breath cycle is known as RSA prominence. What is your average RSA prominence for each of the recovery from exercise sections of data: 30, 60, 90, etc...seconds?
2. What percentage of the pre-inhalation heart rate is the RSA prominence during each of these sections?
3. How long did it take for you to recover to normal breathing and heart rates? Did the time differ between breathing rate recovery and heart rate recovery? Can you explain this?
4. Did you notice a change in how deep you were breathing after exercise? You can check this by placing the cursors on the peak and trough of one breath and measuring V2-V1. Explain what is happening physiologically and why you need to breathe more deeply.