​ ​ Blood Pressure Homeostasis

Investigated by Jake Hobson, Matteo Eusebio, Chris Kenney

Abstract:
When the human body’s blood pressure spike or lowers, it will return back to
homeostasis. One way to test this is by measuring blood pressure before, right after
and then after waiting to recover from exercise. The results all followed the same
pattern, the blood pressure before was at homeostasis and it increased due to the
exercise. Then dropped back to homeostasis about 10 minutes after exercising.This
shows how the human body maintains homeostasis in blood pressure.

Introduction:
Homeostasis is the equilibrium of the body and its systems. The brain can
involuntarily (meaning that you don’t have to think about it) manage its functions
to keep its systems and functions stable using the hormone ANP (Derreck Chu on
Youtube). More specifically, it can control the blood vessels’ and arteries’ dilation
to keep our blood pressure in check. It is known that this takes place but to prove
it, more experimentation was needed. Our experiments capture everyday life,
spikes of activity, and the dips while one rests. In the experiments, we expect blood
pressure to change then change back to normal shortly after.

Methods and Materials:

Materials: 3 Male Test subjects (Ages ranging from 15-16)
Sphygmomanometer - Blood Pressure Monitor

Methods:
3 main stages in experiment
Control: This was a measure of blood pressure while going through a typical day
and completing work.

Active:
A measurement of blood pressure was taken 10 minutes prior to running 100 yards.
 A measurement of blood pressure was taken following shortly after running 100
yards.
A measurement of blood pressure was taken 10 minutes following the 100 yard
run.

Resting:
A measurement of blood pressure was taken 10 minutes prior to resting for 15
minutes.
A measurement of blood pressure was taken shortly after the 15 minute resting
period.
A measurement of blood pressure was taken shortly after the 15 minute resting
period.

Results: Numerator represents Systolic flow aka flow out of heart, Denominator represents
diastolic flow aka the flow of blood into the heart.
Participant Control -10 min 100 yd 10 min -10 min Rest for 10 min
Dash 15 min

1 128/83 128/83 144/76 121/73 121/73 102/62 115/79

2 115/71 115/71 137/77 113/69 73/53 106/59 144/90

3 129/69 129/69 142/71 115/55 115/55 100/65 116/72

Discussion/Conclusion:
The research confirmed the hypothesis that although it may spike or dip, blood
pressure will always return to a safe and stable level due to homeostasis. Seeing as
the control for participant 1 was 128/83, the measure while running spiked to
144/76 then in ten minutes returned back to 121/73. Following this, the resting
measurement was 102/62, where an obvious dip in blood pressure occurred. 10
minutes later and the blood pressure rose back to a level near the control.
Participants 2 and 3 showed similar patterns of blood pressure readings while put
through the same test under the same conditions. The tests went well aside from
not following the instrustructions for the sphygmomanometer initially, which
caused tests to be redone. The numbers seen are correct while tests were done
following the instructions exactly.

References:
- “#BPraisers: Things That Raise Your Blood Pressure.” ​About Heart Attacks​,
www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/the-facts-about-high-blood-pressure/
bpraisers-things-that-raise-your-blood-pressure​.
- Chopra, Sandeep et al. “Neuro-endocrine regulation of blood pressure” ​Indian journal of
endocrinology and metabolism​ vol. 15 Suppl 4,Suppl4 (2011): S281-8.
- “Blood Pressure Homeostasis.” ​YouTube​, YouTube, 18 Dec. 2016,
youtu.be/j6VzjaOwg0g.