Question

Explain what happens to the respiratory rate (breaths per minute) during exercise and what happens to the respiratory rate during the resting period after exercise.

Answer 1

The respiratory rate increases while doing exercise this is primarily due to the increased demand and uptake of OXYGEN in the body. While doing exercises more O₂ is needed and more CO₂ is produced that needs to be cleared up from the body hence the respiratory rate which is measured by the VO₂ increases and can go up to 40 to 50 breaths per minute.

During the resting period after exercise, the breathing rate starts to get normal and gradually returns to normal of 15 breaths per minute. Also, the breaths taken after the exercise are long and deep in nature and are more voluminous in nature in order to bring the body oxygen level to normal.