Pulse Rate Question

[SmoothER]

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I can't get a single, definitive answer on this and I've been scouring the net along with my own textbooks for awhile now. They have information for heart rate but not for pulse rate. My question is: What controls pulse rate? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[chandelantern]

I can't get a single, definitive answer on this and I've been scouring the net along with my own textbooks for awhile now. They have information for heart rate but not for pulse rate. My question is: What controls pulse rate? Any help would be appreciated.

Heart rate is the same as pulse, is it? How detailed of an answer are you looking for, just part of the brain or the biochemical mechanisms behind the autonomic control?

 

[Rafa]

Your pulse is simply an extension of your heartbeat. In fact, the farther away a blood vessel/vein is from your heart, the more time elapses between the beat and the pulse. Try sitting quietly and feeling your pulse simultaneously around your head/neck, and your leg/knees. You'll see - it's pretty neat. I came to this realization after endless moments spent feeling my pulse reverberate through my body in strange places when sitting quietly.

 

[63768]

heart rate is essentially the pulse. however, any sort of blockages, stenosis, or constricted blood vessels will slow down the heart rate to the palpable/recorded pulse to a certain degree.

so your answer is the beat of the heart controls your pulse. yet there are other factors concerning your blood vessels that can affect the recorded pulse.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Your pulse is simply an extension of your heartbeat. In fact, the farther away a blood vessel/vein is from your heart, the more time elapses between the beat and the pulse. Try sitting quietly and feeling your pulse simultaneously around your head/neck, and your leg/knees. You'll see - it's pretty neat. I came to this realization after endless moments spent feeling my pulse reverberate through my body in strange places when sitting quietly.

Checking the pulse while someone does cpr is cool too. Or so i've heard

 

[SmoothER]

What part of the brain controls the pulse rate? Btw, thanks to everyone who replied in this thread. I really appreciate your help on this.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

What part of the brain controls the pulse rate? Btw, thanks to everyone who replied in this thread. I really appreciate your help on this.

heart rate is affected by a lot of things. It is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, so the brainstem ("primitive" part, center of brain, top of spine) is what's doing everything. This makes sense.. since you don't control your heart consciously, the cerebral cortex (lobes of brain) and cerebellum are not involved. I know the vagus nerve (cranial nerve) affects HR, as well as other mediating factors, neurotransmitters like epinephrine (adrenaline),for example, etc. Interestingly, the beating itself is a spontaneuous process. I was told that if you grind up the heart and put it in a dish, the cells will allign to fire electrically...although I'm not sure how true this is.

Now, pulse can be affected by other things too. Assuming the heart is working properly, the smooth muscles along your arteries can dilate or constrict to effect blood pressure, reducing and increasing the resistance to blood flow, respectively. When you check for pulses, you want to check bilaterally to make sure both sides are equal. A strong arterial bleed in the right arm, for example, will obviously make the pulse harder to detect in the right arm (though if it is strong enough, will make all pulses hard to detect). Other problems associated with a lack of pusle at a certain pressure point without a bleed, assuming the pusle is present everywhere else, indicate other medical issues, like a thrombosis or embolism. The pulse will obviously be stronger as you check closer to the heart. This is why if you can't get a radial (pulse at wrist), you'de want to check a corrotid (neck) before assuming cardiac arrest.

 

[SmoothER]

If I'm not mistaken, pulse rate and heart rate are two separate things, even though they are interrelated. Does the thyroid regulate pulse rate? I was thinking hypothalamus or pituitary but I dunno if I'm right.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

If I'm not mistaken, pulse rate and heart rate are two separate things, even though they are interrelated. Does the thyroid regulate pulse rate? I was thinking hypothalamus or pituitary but I dunno if I'm right.

Yes. The thyroid produces the thyroid hormone, which effects most organs in the body, including the heart. Thyroid diseases can worsen heart conditions. Hypothyroidism, a lack of the thyroid hormone, can weaken the heart, resulting in bradycardia (slow HR). It can also stiffen the arteries causing hypertension (high blood pressure).

The hypothalaumus definitely does. It projects to the medulla and can regulate HR, vasoconstriction, and other autonomic responses.

All this stuff really makes me appreciate the "body as a unit" type philosophy, there are so many factors affecting everything that you gotta respect cardiologists..so Sherlock Holmes-ish

 

[SoCuteMD]

Heart rate=pulse rate unless you can't get a pulse because the bp isn't high enough to feel one (like if the patient is hemorrhaging).

 

[ShyRem]

heart rate = pulse rate only if every electrical 'beat' actually results in a contraction. There is EMD to consider, which is why you should never take the rate on the monitor to be the patient's heart rate unless it physically correlates.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I can't get a single, definitive answer on this and I've been scouring the net along with my own textbooks for awhile now. They have information for heart rate but not for pulse rate. My question is: What controls pulse rate? Any help would be appreciated.

Sinoatrial node + Atrioventricular node, as controlled by sympathetic cardiac nerves + vagus parasympathetic cardiac plexus of nerves. Regulation is by the nucleus ambiguus of the medulla & the hypothalamus.

Many chemicals, neurotransmitters, and drugs can increase or decrease the rate.