Caffeine and the Human Pulse Jane Cai and Christine Ma A.R. MacNeill Secondary Floor Location: J92H

The purpose of this research was to determine which caffeine beverage (instant coffee, tea and coke) had the most effect on the human pulse at rest and after exercising. We have asked seven of our closest friends and relatives to be the subjects of our experiment. They each drank the same beverage with the same amount a day, then switched to a different beverage on another day. The testing took six days to complete. After the indigestion of the beverages, we let the subjects rest for minimum of thirty minutes for the caffeine to take effect. Then, they were to exercise for five minutes and we took their pulse rate immediately after. From our observations and data, tea affected the pulse rate the most at rest and third after drinking and exercising. Coke affected the pulse rate the second at rest and first after drinking and exercising. Instant coffee affected the pulse rate the least at rest and second after drinking and exercising. Overall, the subjects appeared normal after the testing of each beverage, though some did become a little bit excited after consuming instant coffee. The results were very different from our hypothesis and we were entirely wrong. We believe that the results are important for doctors who are dealing with patients with heart disease, because the beverages we tested are all common daily drinks that contains caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant drug and can affect the heart depending on the amount of doses taken. It will give doctors more options to the problem of the heart disease and to find a way of solving or curing it.