Homeostasis Dissertation Example

THE EFFICIENCY OF HOMEOSTATIC RESPONSES FOR OXYGEN DEPRIVATION DURING PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
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Word count: 1661
Introduction
Oxygen’s presence in the atmosphere endeared the creation of organisms that could use it to balance out the atmospheric composition. Since its escape into the atmosphere from oxygen-producing organisms some 2 to 3 billion years past, it has found utility in constituting about 65 percent of an adult human’s body (Sen & Packer, 2000, 653S). Since it is an extraneous fuel for human bodies, its usage relies on the body’s balance of oxidative stress and anaerobic respiration. Therefore, the homeostatic framework within which oxygen operates in the body is subject to an individual’s physiologic processes that demand or dump oxygen from the body (Maltepe & Saugstad, 2009, 261).
The respiratory and cardiac systems are responsible for supplying oxygen to the body. Performance metrics of the respiratory systems include the respiratory volumes and rates while cardiac measures include the heart rate and blood pressure. However, these measures vary in persons presenting with various pathologies (Maltepe & Saugstad, 2009, 262,). Research encourages combined physical activity and dietary lifestyle changes to avoid metabolic diseases that might affect oxygen homeostasis (Boule et al., 2005, 108). However, with increased exercise, oxygen is increasingly fed into mitochondrial electron transport chain to be converted into toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) as it converts ADP to ATP (Maltepe & Saugstad, 2009, 261). As such, with prolonged physical activity, oxygen demand could be indicative of the efficiency of the physiologic processes of its metabolism and homeostasis. This research intends to look into the formerly stated hypothesis through metering respiratory and cardiac strain with maintained physical activity in relation to demographic and behavioural factors.
Hypothesis
An increased pulse and respiratory rate increase the efficiency of oxygen supply to muscle and other cells during prolonged physical activity.
Methods
Sample
A sample of 29 females and 12 males aged above 18 years old was selected to take part in this exploratory study that sought to determine the efficiency of oxygen utilization vis-à-vis demographic and behavioural aspects. They were subjected to interviews with licenced physicians from which their weight, smoking habits, and fitness levels were documented. They provided written and oral informed consent before participation in this study. The study was approved by the governing ethics body of the institution and performed within the scope of its provisioned standards.
Materials
BioHarness. Measures pulse and other measures in the midst of physical activity.
NICO100C. It measures cardiac impedance to calculate respiratory rates in about 9 seconds. It can also measure other parameters like heart rates.
2-step block for the Harvard step test.
Procedure
The experiment was conducted in a room with standardized laboratory conditions of 220 C and 40 to 50 percent relative humidity. Participants wore cotton t-shirts, practice shorts, and sports shoes. They were attached to a BioHarness and the non-invasive cardiac output amplifier NICO100C. They were subjected to the Harvard step test with their real-time pulse, and respiratory rate was recorded at intervals of 2 minutes for 20 minutes.
Statistical Analysis
The data was descriptively analysed to illustrate the correlation of gender and smoking habits to heart rates at rest. Moreover, the graphical correlation of age with a pulse and respiratory rates was charted.
Results
In figure 1 below, a graph of pulse against the duration of exercise indicates a rapid spike in the pulse followed by a rapid drop. After 2 minutes of exercise, the pulse plateaus until it eventually drops even further than resting pulse rate after 20 minutes of exercise.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1
Figure 2 below shows the concomitant change in respiratory during exercise. Like the pulse, the respiratory rate first rapidly increases then rapidly drops and stabilizes until the end of the exercise at 20 minutes before going up again.
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 2
Moreover, the average resting pulse smokers are 71.7 bpm, and their average respiratory rate is 18.4. As for non-smokers, their average resting pulse is 70.4 bpm, and their average respiratory rate is 18.5.
Discussion
The results of this study indicate that the behavioral variables like smoking and limited physical activity have limited correlation to the efficiency of the utilization of oxygen within the human body. With smokers and non-smokers having an average pulse of 70.4 bpm and 71.7 bpm, all within the standard range for an adult, the behavioral variables failed to affirm the study’s hypothesis. Moreover, participants with a history of smoking had an average resting respiratory rate of 18.4 against the non-smokers’ average resting respiratory rate at 18.4. These underwhelming correlations depose the hypothesis. In retrospect, an age-based assessment of such parameters might reveal a significant correlation of oxygen utilization efficiency across a qualitatively similar sample. The study sample would have to maintain the exercise within their target heart rate throughout their physical activity to ensure that the fitness factor stands out against the revised parameter.
At the beginning of the exercise, pulse and respiratory rates peak as the body acclimatizes to increased physical activity. The variation of this peak pulse and respiratory rates was vast, with underlying behavioural aspects such as physical fitness and smoking status determining its extent. As such, the oxygen transport to the body cells varies from person to person as evidenced observable mechanical exertion in different people with varying behaviors. Wheat and Larkin (2010) seconded the theory of the significance of heart rate variability as a parameter for health and mental disease. Low variability in the heart rate following exertion is associated with risk for all-cause mortality and ischemic heart disease (Wheat & Larkin, 2010, 230). In this research, the compensatory effort of the heart is indicated in the shift of the pulse in relation to physical activity. The baroreflex capacity indicates the capacity to recuperate from intense demands of the respiratory and cardiovascular system. Wheat and Larkin (2010) illustrated this correlation across the spectrum of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. These diseases include chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), asthma, fibromyalgia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cardiovascular diseases, heart failure and major depressive disorder (MDD) (p. 230 – 235). Participant 18 had the optimal heart rate variation courtesy of his excellent level of fitness and non-smoking habits that have a high correlation to a healthy and long life expectancy (Boule et al., 2005, 108).
During the entire procedure, temperatures of the participants increased with prolonged exercise. Gleeson (1998) explained that the excess of a kilo Watt released in strenuous exercise is detected by thermoreceptors and processed in the hypothalamus to affect homeostatic processes for temperature control (p. S96). These responses are also under the influence of baroreceptors and osmoreceptors. Elevated superficial blood flow and evaporating sweat affect the down-regulation process. Improper exercise outfits and humid conditions make the body’s thermal regulation inefficient. Moreover, sufficient hydration is a vital factor that promotes functional exercise by substituting fluids lost through sweat.
Before the end prolonged exercise, oxygen demand within muscles exceeds the heart’s capability to supply it (Noakes, 2012, 2). As such, at the end of the exercise, an increase in pulse and respiratory rates is witnessed. Nobel Laureate Archibald Vivian Hill (1923) described the fatiguing of muscles as a function of the heart’s capacity to distribute large volumes of blood to muscles. Therefore, this correlation determines the capacity to perform prolonged exercise. The accumulation of lactate in muscles as oxygen demand fails to meet the level of aerobic respiration during physical activity creates the sensation of fatigue that Noakes (2012) translates as a sign of the limit of exercise that one can take. Therefore, factors that affect the ability to maintain supply to muscles during physical activity are key to ensuring physical fitness without premature fatigue.
With unlimited oxygen availability in the atmosphere, the heart is the limiting factor for physical fitness. Optimal cardiac output leads to myocardial ischemia that affects cardiovascular homeostasis. The plateau phase of the graph for both pulse and respiratory rate corresponds to the limiting (maximum) cardiac output that precedes myocardial ischemia as fatigue builds up. Early 20th-century research by Fletcher and Hopkins (1907) muscular contraction and fatigue concomitantly caused lactic acid accumulation. From the perspective of a muscle physiologist that reviewed this correlation at the most basic level that captures both endpoints of this research. The metabolism of oxygen at myocardial and skeletal muscle level indicates the efficiency of respiration and cardiac output. As such, rather than the accommodation of physical activity with high heart rates and respiratory rates could indicate the conversion rate of oxygen intake and distribution. However, the cardiac output and respiratory rate fail to correspond to the oxygen demand of muscles during extended exercise. As such, aerobic respiration gets displaced by anaerobic respiration that leads to the accumulation of lactic acid. During this phase, the participant’s fatigue is building up until optimal heart function resumes at the end of the exercise when muscular contraction has stopped. As such, myocardial fitness plays a crucial role in accommodating prolonged physical activity. The cardiovascular homeostasis can ensure the consistent supply of the oxygen demand provided it does not have to operate at or above the optimal cardiac output through the course of prolonged physical activity.
This study has the advantage of using instantaneous tools for measuring heart rate and respiratory rate with high sensitivity and accuracy. Such tools have improved the credibility of collected data with least errors for the However, with the presence of numerous parameters for measuring cardiovascular and respiratory performance, the study could have adopted more variables for evaluation. Respiratory volumes, molecular differences, blood pressure and genetic testing, could have provided a multidimensional framework for the analysis of oxygen and other forms of homeostasis. In essence, homeostatic responses are meant to modify the functioning of these physiological processes. However, with limited funding, the study could only afford the basic vital signs as a standard of fitness. Therefore, future research has to consider these parameters in the analysis of fitness and oxygen demand.
In conclusion, the analysed variables of data failed to support the hypothesis given that processes of up-regulating oxygen supply to muscles at a rate dependent on the pulse and respiratory rate of a person. However, the fatiguing of the participants based on their cardiac and respiratory strain to keep up with prolonged physical activity is a noteworthy correlation between all-cause mortality and ischemic heart disease.

References
Boulé, N.G., Weisnagel, S.J., Lakka, T.A., Tremblay, A., Bergman, R.N., Rankinen, T., Leon, A.S., Skinner, J.S., Wilmore, J.H., Rao, D.C. and Bouchard, C., 2005. Effects of exercise training on glucose homeostasis: the HERITAGE Family Study. Diabetes Care, 28(1), pp.108-114.
Gleeson, M., 1998. Temperature regulation during exercise. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19(S 2), pp.S96-S99.
Hill, A.V., and Lupton, H., 1923. Muscular exercise, lactic acid, and the supply and utilization of oxygen. QJM: Quarterly Journal of Medicine, (62), pp.135-171.
Maltepe, E. and Saugstad, O.D., 2009. Oxygen in health and disease: regulation of oxygen homeostasis-clinical implications. Pediatric research, 65(3), p.261.
Noakes, T.D.O., 2012. Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behavior to ensure the protection of whole body homeostasis. Frontiers in physiology, 3, p.82.
Sen, C.K., and Packer, L., 2000. Thiol homeostasis and supplements in physical exercise–. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 72(2), pp.653S-669S.
Wheat, A.L., and Larkin, K.T., 2010. Biofeedback of heart rate variability and related physiology: A critical review. Applied Psychophysiology and biofeedback, 35(3), pp.229-242.
Appendix

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 3 Raw Data 1

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 4 Raw Data 2