Aside from the factors mentioned, pregnancy is another factor that affects

the pulse rate of a person. During pregnancy, a lot of changes happen in the body
(Wolanski, NY). The metabolism rate increases about 15 percent since there is a
need to increase the secretion of some hormones such as thyroxine, adrenocortical
hormones and sec hormones. These hormones help in supporting the growing fetus
in the womb. Moreover, there is also a need for greater amounts of energy than
normal must be spent for muscle activity (Guyton and Hall, 2006).
This increase in metabolism and energy consumption would increase the
pregnant persons cardiac output to 30 to 40 percent above the normal. The blood
volume increases to 30 percent above normal during the latter half of pregnancy
due to aldosterone and estrogen which are secreted greatly during pregnancy. Also,
there is an increase in the activity of the bone marrow and production of red blood
cells (Guyton and Hall, 2006; Khurana, 2006)..Thus, to sustain these needs
mentioned, there is an increase in pulse rate of a pregnant woman especially during
the latter half of pregnancy (Wolanski, NY).
Table. Effect of pregnancy on pulse rate.
TERM

PULSE RATE (beats per

First Trimester

minute)
-

Last Trimester

91

Remarks

31 years old, first child,

regularly exercising like
walking

In the experiment, a seven month pregnant woman in her early 30s was the
subject. She was regularly exercising such as walking for 30 minutes every morning.
Her pulse rate was 91 beats per minute which was above the normal pulse rate of a
normal person. This increase can be explained by the changes happening in the
body of a pregnant woman as mention earlier. The pulse rate of a pregnant person
in her first trimester was not observed since there were no volunteer.

Reference:

Wolanski,

K.

NY.

Normal

Pulse

Rate

for

Pregnancy.

Accessed

from

<http://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/normal-pulse-rate-pregnancy-4694.html>
Guyton, A.C. and Hall, J.E. 2006. Transport of Substances Through the Cell. Textbook
of Medical Physiology. Elsevier Saunders. Pp. 1034-1036.
Khurana, I. 2006. Textbook of Medical Physiology. Elsevier.