Bodybuilding And Blood Pressure

A faster and more intense workout will yield a higher blood pressure and heart rate in the human subject. The heart is described as “hollow muscular organ”; its function is to pump blood to the whole body during a person’s life. The circulatory system of which the heart is part of sends oxygen and nutrients to the body and removes waste and carbon dioxide. One of the demands on the heart is that it must be able to shift whenever the activity of the person changes. Thus when activity increases and a person were to exercise, they would need more oxygen. The increase in oxygen demand leads to the heart being forced to pump more blood and therefore the heart rate of that particular individual to increase.
“Heart rate” simply signifies the number of beats the heart undergoes per minute. Under normal circumstances, the heart rate of and adult would be seventy beats per minute while that of a child would be one-hundred beats per minute and a baby’s would be one hundred and twenty beats per minute. Resting heart rates will increase due to exercise training. For example, professional athletes have slower resting heart rates due to physical training which keeps the heart stronger so that it may pump a higher volume of blood while beating less often. Other sources such as stress, temperature, hormones, drugs, alcohol and food can also affect heart rate.
Blood pressure is essentially the force of one’s blood on the arteries’ walls. It is measured by the systole, the “highpoint” where the heart releases blood by contracting, and the diastole - the “low point” in which the heart relaxes and thus is filled with blood.
When blood pressure is measured, it is generally measured in mm of mercury (mmHg) in a sphygmomanometer. The maximum blood pressure is systole and the minimum is the diastole for a “cardiac cycle”. Normal blood pressure should be should be 80/45 in babies while individuals at thirty years of age should have a blood pressure of 128/80. If ones blood pressure were too high, some of the blood vessels could explode, yet if the blood pressure was too low, the brain would “starve” or not be able to get what it needs. Thus, the body controls blood pressure in various ways to meet its needs. For example, it can tighten or loosen the blood vessels also the heart can change the amount of blood it pumps. Blood pressure will be affected by the flexibility of arteries, the diameter or width of the artery, the thickness or viscosity of blood and the volume of blood. The volume of blood can change if a lot of blood is lost causing the blood pressure to go down. As well, the heart rate can affect blood pressure. As one exercises, their heart rate increases thus resulting in an increase of blood pressure. As the heart rate decreases, the blood pressure decreases.