Question

A couch potato eats lots of pizza, chips, and hamburgers and never exercises, and develops arteriosclerosis, which includes hardening of the arteries. If he were to exercise, how would his exercising blood pressure compare to that of a healthy person? How would his or her exercising total peripheral resistance compare to that of a healthy person? Explain your answers.

Answer 1

The exercising blood pressure of the couch potato would be greater in comparison to that of a healthy individual because in the case of a couch potato the arterial walls are declining in radius. Due to this, there is a greater peripheral resistance because of the small radius and corresponding resistance to the flow of blood.  

A healthy individual presumably does not possess an identical accumulation of plaque as the couch potato does. Thus, their blood vessel is larger, resulting in less peripheral resistance and less resistance to the flow of blood.