Immediate & Short Term Effects of Exercise (AQA GCSE Physical Education (PE))

When exercise begins, the muscles require extra oxygen and glucose for aerobic exercise

To ensure fast and efficient delivery of oxygen and glucose to the muscle cells, changes occur in the body:

• Heart rate increases

  • Normal resting heart rate is approximately 70-80 beats per minute, during exercise, this raises to 100-150 beats per minute (this will vary depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise)

• Contractions of the heart increase and are more powerful which increases the stroke volume

• The rate and depth of breathing increases

  • This ensures that efficient gas exchange in the lungs can still take place

• Increased body temperature

  • An increase in muscle contractions during exercise will release more heat energy

  • The effects of this can be seen in sweating which releases heat energy at the skin surface by evaporation of sweat. Skin may also look red due to blood vessels at the surface of the skin dilating to release heat energy by radiation

Where changes happen up to 36 hours after exercise, this is considered a short-term effect of exercise

These effects include:

• Tiredness/fatigue - the muscles have been working hard and become swollen and feel heavy which can lead to tiredness. This sensation can also be caused by muscles using up stores of carbohydrates during respiration and the energy supply is reduced

• Light-headedness - this can also present as feeling dizzy; this is often due to low blood sugar or low blood pressure

• Nausea (feeling sick) - if the participant has overexerted themselves during exercise this can leave them feeling nauseous as blood is directed away from the stomach and digestive organs to the heart and lungs

• Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) - occurs because of small tears in the muscle that happens during exercise that cause swelling and soreness in the muscles

• Cramps - caused by involuntary contractions of muscle that happen because of fatigue; dehydration and loss of minerals can contribute to cramps (not the same as DOMS)