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Increased Levels Of Physical Activity

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During increased levels of physical activity, the human body responds by altering various cardio-respiratory variables to supply the skeletal muscles with an adequate amount of oxygen and nutrients to sustain the increased metabolic demand. If individuals engage in frequent exercise, the cardio-respiratory system and targeted skeletal muscles become stronger and more efficient relative to individuals that do not engage in exercise. It was hypothesized that at rest athletic individuals would have a lower resting heart rate and at peak performance athletic individuals would have a higher VO2 and a-v O2 difference with a lower TPR, compared to non-athletic individuals. Both male and female subjects, between the ages of 20-23, were placed into two groups based on their weekly amount of time engaging in exercise (Group 1 being zero hours per week, and Group 2 being more than ten hours per week). These cardio-respiratory variables were measured as each subject, sitting on a cycle ergometer, went from rest to peak performance. It was found that athletic subjects did not differ significantly from non-athletic subjects for any of the tested cardio-respiratory variables. However, it was seen that both the respiratory and cardiovascular systems displayed an increase in efficiency for athletic subjects compared to non-athletic subjects. This increased efficiency is not only beneficial for exercise performance, but also for sustaining and improving a healthy life.

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