Dynamics of ventilatory response to exercise in humans

Abstract

The dynamics of the ventilatory response to moderate exercise on a bicycle ergometer have been studied in humans. The work load was varied between 25 and 100 W as a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) that enabled the impulse responses to be calculated by cross-correlation techniques. The response of all five subjects exhibited a bimodal response, i.e., a fast component that was followed after a delay by a slow component. The fast component accounted for a relatively small proportion of the total response. Also, it was demonstrated that to identify the rapid component it was necessary to excite the respiratory system with an input containing highfrequency components; this result was used to reconcile the findings from this study with those of previous investigation.