Final answer:
Exercise increases carbon dioxide in the blood, stimulating increased respiration to normalize blood pH. Hyperpnea occurs despite an adequate oxygen supply, indicating a complex interplay of factors triggering this response. The body uses the carbonate buffering system and respiration to balance blood pH post-exercise by adjusting CO2 levels.
Step-by-step explanation:
Effects of Exercise on Blood Carbon Dioxide
Exercise leads to increased ventilation to meet the body's higher oxygen demands and to eliminate excess carbon dioxide produced from intensified metabolic activity. This response is known as hyperpnea, which is the increase in the rate and depth of breathing. As muscle cells respire more to match the energy demands, they produce more carbon dioxide which, in turn, lowers the pH of the blood. This is sensed by chemoreceptors, leading to an increase in breathing rate to expel the excess carbon dioxide and reestablish a normal blood pH.
During heavy exercise, if aerobic respiration is inadequate, lactic acid is produced leading to further demand for oxygen (oxygen debt), which after exercise, translates to continued elevated breathing rates to remove this acid through conversion to carbon dioxide and water. The body uses the carbonate buffering system and respiration to modulate blood pH by balancing carbon dioxide levels in response to acid-base status changes in the blood post-exercise.
Therefore, the effect of exercise on blood carbon dioxide levels is an increase, which, through various physiological mechanisms, stimulates increased respiratory rates to normalize the blood's pH.