A Study On The Mammalian Diving Reflex

The dive response is known more popularly as a mammalian dive reflex. It is a survival mechanism built into mammal’s bodies, essentially. Over the years, scientists have been determined to find what triggers mammals to have a decreased heart rate when submerged under water allowing them to stay under the water longer when they do not typically live under water.

The effects of heart rate on differing durations of exercise were studied in this experiment. For people, heart rate tends to increase as they perform physical exercises. The amount of beats per minute gradually increases as people perform physical activities. Heart rates taken before exercise are relatively low, and heart rates taken one minute after exercise increase significantly. Heart rates slowly begin to decrease after they are taken two minutes and three minutes after performing the step test, which is to be expected. The rates of intensity throughout exercise relates with changes in heart rate throughout the step test performed in the experiment (Karvonen 2012). The age of the participants affected the experiment, since the heart rate during physical exercise, in this case the step test, is affected by age (Tulppo 1998).

(The whale's adaptations allow) "…the heartbeat to slow, peripheral arteries to constrict, and shunting of oxygenated blood to vital organs. During a whale's dive, the metabolic rate drops, causing a reduction in heart rate, or bradycardia. A bradycardia

The diving reflex is a method found in animals and all mammals to manage oxygen levels allowing them to spend time underwater longer. Conservation of oxygen is important

Ensuring that the patient was relaxed and comfortable I began to take her pulse, using my three middle finger tips to locate the pulse. I did so for 15 second and timed by fore for the next 15 seconds I measured her respiration rate and timed by 4. I did not explain to my patient that I was taking her respirations as looking at her chest may have made her feel uncomfortable and increase her respirations. Her pulse rate ending up being 85 beats per minute and respirations were 15 breaths per minute. These results were within normal range, as her pulse rate was between 80 and 120 bpm and respirations were between 12 and 20 (Tollefson, 2010). The change in pulse and respiration rate can increase during excercise. If a pulse is recorded below 50 bpm the patient can be at risk of a heart attach. A fast pulse exceeding 100 bpm can be a sign of infection or dehydration. This can be detected quickly and appropriate action taken to prevent negative affects on the patient’s well being.

This paper begins with my own existing knowledge of swimming, followed by questions that I wanted to find out in my research that were answered in my paper. It then gets into my research and what I found out while conducting my senior paper. After that is

Attention Getter: Breathe slowly. Do not hold your breath. Equalize early and often. Stay off the seafloor. These are a few of the thoughts going through my mind while descending on my first open-water dive in Monterey, California. I hear the eerie silence, interrupted only by

waters, despite being able to dive for up to half an hour in the water (Rogers, 2005). Only

Pinnipeds had developed ways to remain submerged in the water. These mammals have found a way to deal with hypoxia, the lack of oxygen. When the Pinnipeds dive they are able to induce bradycardia, reducing heart rate. They have vasoconstriction, with constricted the blood flow. These things are done to conserve oxygen when they dive. Even though they are able to store oxygen rich red blood cells in the spleen for the dive, they need to conserve it over the the time of the dive. These things are what constitute the dive reflex in the pinnipeds.

From nomadic hunters to competition athletes, some humans have similar abilities to marine animals. What characteristics distinguish them?

A problem with repetitive shallow dives is that divers do not know that they can become saturated even at shallow depths, and repetitive diving only increases the amount of nitrogen that becomes saturated if the diver does not allow time for nitrogen to be eliminated between dives. Divers may ascend rapidly from shallow dives increasing their chance of DCS or staying at a shallow depth for an extended period of time. Another way for divers to develop DCS after repetitive dives is due to the hypothermia because the blood vessels are constricted to conserve heat, so the blood off-gases nitrogen at a slower rate. Water takes away heat from the body at rate 25% faster than air, so even in warm climates, it is possible to develop hypothermia. Drysuits

The effects of exercise on blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and electrical activity of the heart were assessed. The measurements of respiration rate, pulse rate and blood pressures were noted as described in Harris-Haller (2016). Data was first taken from subjects in a relaxed position and then followed by sets of reading after exercising based on one minute intervals. The data also noted sitting ECG traces from Harris-Haller (2016). The respiratory rate, pulse, blood pressure, P wave, QRS complex and T wave were defined for each subject. The class average was calculated for males and females and graphed to illustrate the results by gender for each cardiopulmonary factor.

The focus of the article, “Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes (Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus): First documented report,” is to present new data about the evolutionary and ecological characteristics of water use in apes with video evidence of apes swimming and diving. It also presents a hypothesis to discover the lack of instinct for swimming in primates and humans.

There are various endurance swimming events seen at the Olympics. This paper will focus on one of the longer Olympic endurance swimming events, the 1500 metre freestyle. To start off, swimmers start in a standing, lean-in position, and dive in once given the go ahead. The purpose is have enough push off and glide as far as they can before transitioning to the stroke, and at this point taking in oxygen when necessary (Swimming 2017). The length of an Olympic size pool is 50 metres, which translates to approximately 30 continuous laps underwater, with the occasional resurface to intake oxygen (Swimming 2017). Generally speaking, if given one minute per

The heart rate is a measurement of how many times the heart beats in a minute. Physically fit people tend to have a lower heart rate and during intense exercise tend to have lower rates as well. A decrease of heart rate at both rest and at fixed intensity of sub-maximal exercise [7] occurs a few months after an exercise program is begun. One’s heart rate reflects the amount of work the heart must do to meet an increase of demands of the body when engaged in activity. Heart Rate tends to increase proportionally with intensity oxygen uptake [16].