Ficarra Giovanni, Rottura Michelangelo, Mannucci Carmen, Caccamo Daniela, Bitto Alessandra, Trimarchi Fabio, Di Mauro Debora
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Dental Sciences, and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University Hospital, Messina, Italy.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital, Messina, Italy.
Front Sports Act Living. 2024 Dec 2;6:1466619. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1466619. eCollection 2024.
The purpose of this study was to address the lack of data on the stress and motivation response in master athletes during competitions, as athletic performance in this age group can be significantly impacted by stress rather than appropriate training.
Coastal rowing beach sprint master athletes aged 43-57 years were examined to assess the saliva levels of stress biomarkers, cortisol, and testosterone. Specifically, samples were collected at awakening and before and after the boat race.
Mean values of cortisol remained unchanged from awakening and raised at the end of the competition, while testosterone levels increased before the race, suggesting an aggressive/competitive behavior. Cortisol levels were significantly higher when comparing pre-race levels with post-race ( = 0.001) levels and early morning with post-race ( = 0.006) levels. No gender effect was observed in this case. Testosterone values did not demonstrate significance when compared between time points, not even when stratifying by gender. Considering the 24 athletes, a higher testosterone/cortisol ratio was correlated with a worse podium position (B = 3.705; = 0.009). When stratified by gender, the testosterone/cortisol ratio demonstrated an association with a worse outcome of the race only in female rowers (B = 4.012; = 0.022). Male athletes demonstrated no significant correlation between hormone ratio and race results (B = 3.288; = 0.292).
It emerged from this study that the amateur rowers who approach competitive sport during adulthood may have problems in coping with the race-related stress and thus the outcome of their performance might be affected, as in adolescents.
本研究旨在解决关于成年运动员在比赛中的压力和动机反应数据不足的问题，因为这个年龄组的运动表现可能受到压力的显著影响，而不是适当的训练。
对43 - 57岁的海岸赛艇沙滩短跑成年运动员进行检查，以评估压力生物标志物、皮质醇和睾酮的唾液水平。具体而言，在醒来时以及赛艇比赛前后采集样本。
皮质醇的平均值从醒来时保持不变，在比赛结束时升高，而睾酮水平在比赛前升高，表明有积极/竞争行为。将赛前水平与赛后水平（P = 0.001）以及清晨与赛后水平（P = 0.006）进行比较时，皮质醇水平显著更高。在这种情况下未观察到性别效应。睾酮值在各时间点之间比较时未显示出显著性，按性别分层时也未显示出显著性。考虑这24名运动员，较高的睾酮/皮质醇比值与较差的领奖台位置相关（B = 3.705；P = 0.009）。按性别分层时，睾酮/皮质醇比值仅在女性赛艇运动员中与较差的比赛结果相关（B = 4.012；P = 0.022）。男性运动员的激素比值与比赛成绩之间未显示出显著相关性（B = 3.288；P = 0.292）。
这项研究表明，成年后参与竞技运动的业余赛艇运动员可能在应对与比赛相关的压力方面存在问题，因此他们的表现结果可能会受到影响，就像青少年一样。
