The relationship between changes in blood pressure
(systolic and diastolic), heart rate after exercise and the
heart rate at rest in first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences
students, studying at Maastricht University
Cheikh, M
ID:i6312660
Tutorial group: 17
Faculty of health, medicine and Life Sciences
Maastricht University
Course BBS1021
7 December 2022
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1. Introduction
Heart rate, in medicine the definition is as follows, the number of times the heart beats within
a certain time period, usually a minute. Monitoring your resting heart rate is important
because it can help provide clues about your overall heart health. For instance, a resting
heart rate that is constantly high can be a sign that your heart is not working as efficiently as
it could be.
Recently, high resting heart rate (RHR) has come to be considered quite an important factor
for increasing the chance of mortality. The relationship between a high RHR and increasing
the chance of mortality is not dependent of sex, lipid profile, age or blood pressure (BP)
values in adults (1). High RHR tends to be associated with myocardial infarction, (2) which
could contribute to the likelihood of death from coronary heart disease in the future.
Previous studies (3-5), have observed a relationship between a higher RHR and a high BP
in pediatric populations, which suggests that a higher RHR may be a marker of
cardiovascular disease in childhood. This relationship could be mediated by other important
cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, (3-4) which could increase the RHR through
inflammatory substances (6).
Another factor that has been linked with high RHR is pulse pressure (PP), an important
marker of vascular stiffness. Another recent study (7) has indicated a positive relationship
between high RHR and PP in 227 healthy male African-American adolescents. Although PP
is affected by both BP levels and the status of obesity, it remains unclear whether the
observed associations would remain after adjustment for these confounders.
Moreover the sex of adolescents should also be considered when analyzing these
relationships. A study (8) has found that male adolescents had significantly higher PP values
than female adolescents. Higher values of heart rate variability were observed in men
compared to women (9). These findings show that hormonal and local fat deposition
characteristics could influence RHR and other cardiovascular risk factors.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between heart rate (HR), blood
pressure (BP) and the resting heart rate (RHR) before and after exercise in first year
bachelor Biomedical Sciences students, that are studying at Maastricht University. This
study is important for everyone, because the heart is a crucial organ in the body. People that
are struggling with an elevated heart rate might not even know that they have an elevated
heart rate, thus its is important to measure their heart rate frequently. Sometimes there are
simple ways to get their heart rate back to normal with simple (long-term) changes, such as
exercising (more), avoiding tobacco products and reducing stress (10).
There is a significant difference between the RHR, BP or HR of adolescent females and
males, therefor the students will be divided by gender (9). The hypothesis is that the
changes in blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are not
depended on the resting heart rate looking at first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences
students that study at Maastricht University.
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2. Materials and methods
The study population consisted of all 553 first-year bachelor students studying biomedical
sciences at Maastricht University in the academic year 2022-2023. All the students
measured their resting heart rate and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) at rest with an
automated sphygmomanometer. The students measured their resting heart rate and blood
pressure (systolic and diastolic) at rest 3 times. The students proceeded to do 30 jumping
jacks and after those jumping jacks the students tried to measure their heart rate and blood
pressure (systolic and diastolic) after ‘exercising’ as quick as possible.
The way the measurements were taken, was with automated sphygmomanometer. The
students sat on a chair and rested their arm on the flat surface of the lab table with their arm
as stretched and relaxed as possible. The manchet of the automated sphygmomanometer
was put on the stretched and relaxed arm by a peer. The automated sphygmomanometer
was turned on and measured the heart rate and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic). This
was done 3 times at rest and 1 time after doing 30 jumping jacks, counting as the exercise,
to measure the heart rate and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) after exercise.
The age and gender of the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences studying at Maastricht
University was also obtained as data.
Eventually, the measurements of 409 students were used. The reason of why the data of the
other 144 first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students could not be obtained is not
known.
To see whether or not the changes in blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate
after exercise depend on the resting heart rate with first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences
students that study at Maastricht University in the academic year 2022-2023, the students
will be devided by gender. The reasoning behind this was because there is a significant
difference between heart rate, resting heart rate and blood pressure of adolescent males
and females (9).
3. Results
The focus of this study was to determine wheter or not the changes in blood pressure
(systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise depend on the resting heart rate
in first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at Maastricht
University (academic year 2022-2023). The blood pressure (systolic and diastolic),
the resting heart rate and the heart rate after exercise of the 409 first-year bachelor
Biomedical Sciences students that study at Maastricht university were measured with
an automated sphygmomanometer and that data was collected in an excel
document. The 409 first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at
Maastricht university consisted of 269 female students and 140 male students. The
average of the resting heart rate of the male and female students was compared (fig
1), the average of the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and of the male and
female students before exercise was compared (fig 2) , the average of the heart rate
after exercising of the male and female students was compared (fig 3) and the
average of the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and of the male and female
students after exercise was compared (fig 4).
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The average of the resting heart rate of the male and female students was compared
(fig 1.)
Fig 1. The average of the resting heart rate of male (dark blue) and female (grey) students of
the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year 2022-2023) studying at
Maastricht University.
The average of the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and of the male and female
students before exercise (at rest) was compared (fig 2).
Fig 2. The average of the blood pressure (systolic) at rest of male (orange) and female (yellow)
students of the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year 2022-2023) studying at
Maastricht University and the average of the blood pressure (diastolic) at rest of male (green) and
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female (brown) students of the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year 2022-2023)
studying at Maastricht University.
The average of the heart rate after exercising of the male and female students was
compared (fig 3).
Fig 3. The average of the heart rate after exercise of male (green) and female (blue) students of the
first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year 2022-2023) studying at Maastricht University.
The average of the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and of the male and female
students after exercise was compared (fig 4).
Fig 4. The average of the blood pressure (systolic) after exercise of male (light green) and female
(blue) students of the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year 2022-2023) studying at
Maastricht University and the average of the blood pressure (diastolic) after exercise of male (yellow)
and female (dark green) students of the first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences (academic year
2022-2023) studying at Maastricht University.
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The group of students were devided by gender because there is a noticeable difference
between the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before and after exercising, and the heart
rate meaning the resting heart rate and heart rate after exercising of male and female
students. The female students had a higher heart rate on average at rest as well as after
exercise and the male students had a higher blood pressure on average at rest as well as
after exercising. Female students had on average a higher heart rate after exercising, a
lower blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before as well as after exercising and a higher
heart rate at rest. Male students had on average a lower heart rate after exercising, a higher
blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before as well as after exercising and a lower heart
rate at rest.
4. Discussion and conclusion
The aim of this study was to determine whether or not the changes in blood pressure
(systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are depended on the resting heart rate
looking at first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at Maastricht
University in the academic year 2022-2023. Male students having a lower heart rate at rest,
a lower heart rate after exercising and a higher blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before
and after exercising as well as female students having a higher heart rate at rest, a higher
heart rate after exercising and a lower blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before and
after exercising confirmed the hypothesis that was made prior, namely that the changes in
blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are not depend on the
resting heart rate looking at first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at
Maastricht University. Because male students having a lower resting heart rate resulted in
them having a lower heart rate after exercising and the same applies to the female students,
them having a higher resting heart rate resulted in them having a higher heart rate after
exercising. Meaning that changes in heart rate do not depend on the resting heart rate, since
the heart rate of the male students was lower before and after exercising and the heart rate
of the female students was higher before and after exercising. Male students had a higher
blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before and after exercising, so it does not depend on
the resting heart rate. Female students had a lower blood pressure (systolic and diastolic)
before and after exercising, so it does not depend on the resting heart rate. Another study
(4) also came to the conclusion that an Elevated RHR is independently associated with
elevated BP in children. The resting heart rate in adolescents is related to many
methodological, constitutional and environmental factors that have to be taken into account
when determining heart rate values (5), so the changes in blood pressure (systolic and
diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are not depended on the resting heart rate looking at
first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at Maastricht University.
Be that as it may, it can not be concluded that the results of this study, the changes in blood
pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are not depended on the
resting heart rate looking at first year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at
Maastricht University, are by undoubtedly precise. The measurements of the resting heart
rate, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) were not measured as accuratally as in an other
study (11), for example the standard location for blood pressure measurement is the brachial
artery. The students were instructed to measure their heart rate and blood pressure as
quickly as possible after doing the 30 jumping jacks, so it is quite logical that with in that rush
of trying to put in the bendable tube/wire back in to the sphygmomanometer that the cuff of
the sphygmomanometer might had moved a bit. The students that have taken part in this
study may have used different approaches and/or equipment to measure their heart rate and
blood pressure, some might have done the 30 jumping jacks without the cuff of the
sphygmomanometer resulting a less accurate measurement of their heart rate after
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exercising, because it would have taken them longer to do the measurement of their heart
rate after exercising, since they had to put the cuff of the sphygmomanometer back on as
quickly as possible and they might have not put it back at the bronchial artery. The students
might have moved during the measurements of their heart rate and blood pressure (systolic
and diastolic), according to a study (12) diastolic blood pressure may be raised by as much
as 10% by having the arm extended and unsupported during blood pressure measurement,
resulting in less accurate measurement of the blood pressure (systolic and diastolic).
Equally, doing 30 jumping jacks is not an accurate substitution for actual exercise. Exercise
is a subset of physical activity that is structured, planned, and repetitive and has as a final or
an intermediate objective the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness (13). Doing 30
jumping jacks in a lab might be planned, repetitive and structured, but it does not have the
aim to an intermediate objective improvement or maintenance of the physical fitness.
In addition to that, using a higher number of participants to establish a more accurate and
reliable outcome is advised because an insufficient or sample size that is to small may not
be able to demonstrate whether or not the changes in blood pressure (systolic and diastolic)
and heart rate after exercise are depended on the resting heart rate. Although having a very
large Sample group may make the study more complicated, that will result in more costs,
more time and more funds that have to be put into the study (14). Errors made in this study
should be taken into account when performing the new research.
The results of this study have shown that the changes in blood pressure (systolic and
diastolic) and the changes in heart rate differed between the male and female students
regardless of having done the 30 jumping jacks or not. Female students had on average a
higher heart rate after exercising, a lower blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before as
well as after exercising and a higher heart rate at rest. Male students had on average a
lower heart rate after exercising, a higher blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) before as
well as after exercising and a lower heart rate at rest. Concluding the the changes in blood
pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate after exercise are not depended on the
resting heart rate looking at first-year bachelor Biomedical Sciences students that study at
Maastricht University.
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