اضطراب رقابتی و واکنش سطح کورتیزول بیداری در هفته منتهی به یک رقابت

This study investigated the psychological as well as neuroendocrine stress response across one week before an important sport competition, introducing the cortisol awakening response (CAR) to sport psychological research. Methods On three days in the week before the German Nationals, martial artists (N = 17) reported their competitive state anxiety and collected five samples of salivary cortisol during the first hour after awakening. Results Hierarchic-linear models and multiple regressions were conducted. Despite a significant rise in “somatic anxiety” (p < .05), the increment of CAR across the week remained non-significant. A moderator function of competitive anxiety on the released amount of cortisol in the morning was not found significant. Results did not show any significant regression of changes in the neuroendocrine response on changes in state anxiety. Conclusion Non-significant increments of CAR with a closer proximity to the competition may be interpreted as a possible habituation of basal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal activity. Moreover, athletes appear to have a lower CAR than found in norm studies, which points to further investigation of interindividual and situational effects on the temporal pattern of the neuroendocrine response to sport competitions.

The neuroendocrine response (i.e. the release of hormones) as part of the physiological stress response has seen a surge in interest in recent years concerning anxiety and stress research in general, and with respect to sport competition in particular (for overviews, see Salvador, 2005 and Salvador and Costa, 2009). Neuroendocrine stress markers include catecholamines such as (nor-)epinephrine and dopamine as markers of the sympathetic adrenal medullary system, and cortisol as the primary marker of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal system (HPA). Studies have generally found a pronounced hormonal response to a competition. So far, mainly the immediate response has been investigated. Much less is known about the temporal patterning of this hormonal response. For a better understanding of competitive anxiety and related coping processes, research needs to focus on changes over a specific period of time before a competition (Cerin et al., 2000 and Hanton et al., 2004; see also Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). While the psychological response has been investigated as it unfolds over time, the processes of the neuroendocrine response remain understudied. The neuroendocrine response may appear adequate and functional in light of upcoming demands – or it may be dysfunctional, even detrimental to health, for example if it is set-off too early or not at all. Furthermore, for the analysis of coping strategies, the correspondence between psychological and neuroendocrine stress needs to be investigated more closely.