Durovic Filip, Edwards David A
Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2025 Mar;173:107278. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107278. Epub 2025 Jan 4.
In a variety of settings, cortisol and testosterone are positively "coupled." That is, within-person fluctuations of these hormones occur in parallel, with increases and decreases in one hormone corresponding to increases and decreases in the other. A dataset comprised of salivary cortisol and testosterone levels from varsity women athletes from six different Emory University sports teams (volleyball 2002, 2005, and 2008; softball 2004; tennis 2009; soccer 2013) was used to explore the relationship between coupling and hormone reactivity to athletic competition. In the majority of athletes, athletic competition was associated with increases in levels of salivary cortisol and testosterone occurring principally during the period between the start of warm-up and the end of competition. Athletes varied with respect to the degree that cortisol and testosterone were coupled. Athletes for whom these two hormones were strongly coupled showed substantially higher competition-related increases in cortisol and testosterone levels than athletes for whom these hormones were less strongly coupled. This heretofore undocumented relationship between hormone coupling and hormone reactivity in a sport setting is consonant with the idea that increases in cortisol and testosterone are parts of a coordinated and complementary response to the physical and/or psychological stress of athletic competition. Given that cortisol and testosterone, each in their own way(s) positively affect athletic performance, a singular benefit of cortisol/testosterone coupling may be an enhanced reactivity to competition, with a corresponding increase in the positive effects of each of these hormones on performance.
在各种情况下，皮质醇和睾酮呈正“耦合”关系。也就是说，这些激素在个体内部的波动是平行的，一种激素的增减与另一种激素的增减相对应。利用来自埃默里大学六个不同运动队（排球2002年、2005年和2008年；垒球2004年；网球2009年；足球2013年）的大学女子运动员唾液皮质醇和睾酮水平组成的数据集，来探究耦合与激素对运动竞赛反应性之间的关系。在大多数运动员中，运动竞赛主要与热身开始至竞赛结束期间唾液皮质醇和睾酮水平的升高有关。运动员在皮质醇和睾酮的耦合程度方面存在差异。这两种激素耦合性强的运动员，其皮质醇和睾酮水平与竞赛相关的升高幅度，比这两种激素耦合性较弱的运动员要高得多。在运动环境中，激素耦合与激素反应性之间这种此前未被记录的关系，与皮质醇和睾酮的增加是对运动竞赛的身体和/或心理压力的一种协调和互补反应的观点是一致的。鉴于皮质醇和睾酮各自以不同方式对运动表现产生积极影响，皮质醇/睾酮耦合的一个独特益处可能是对竞赛的反应性增强，且这两种激素对表现的积极影响相应增加。
