State anxiety and cortisol reactivity to skydiving in novice versus experienced skydivers

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that skydiving, a naturalistic stressor, is associated with increases in self-reported stress, anxiety and cortisol levels. However, it has not been established whether this stress reactivity is altered as a function of repeated exposure to skydiving. This is of interest due to previous observations that cortisol reactivity becomes habituated with repeated exposure to laboratory stressors, however, few studies have investigated such habituation to naturalistic stressors. State anxiety and cortisol reactivity to skydiving were measured in 11 first-time skydivers and 13 experienced skydivers (≥ 30 jumps, mean jumps = 397.6), who were to complete a solo skydive. The novice skydivers reported significantly greater levels of state anxiety prior to the jump; however, there were no differences in pre-jump levels of salivary cortisol. Both groups exhibited significantly elevated salivary cortisol levels immediately post-jump, relative to i) prejump and ii) recovery. However, the two groups were indistinguishable with regards to their cortisol reactivity to the skydive. These findings support previous research demonstrating that skydiving elicits acute cortisol activation. Further, they suggest that i) cortisol reactivity does not habituate in experienced jumpers, and ii) that there is lack of concordance between self-reported levels of anxiety and biological stress reactivity in experienced skydivers.

Salivary stress biomarkers and anxiety symptoms in children with and without temporomandibular disorders

“…Other studies also found a lack of concordance between the self-reported levels of anxiety and biological stress reactivity 34 , or a lack of relationship between cortisol and anxiety at certain time points of a stress paradigm. 9 Although these seem to be interrelated, anxiety and physiological stress are distinct constructs that may be individually activated under specific circumstances.…”

Type D personality and cardiovascular reactivity to an ecologically valid multitasking stressor

“…Such paradigms could include exposure to potentially life-threatening stressors, such as extreme sports (e.g. Hare et al, 2013). It would potentially be of even greater interest to better understand whether the negative associations between mood and Type D observed during the pre-stress period both in the present study, and elsewhere ) are attributable to a general reduction in basal mood in Type D individuals, or whether this reduction in pre-stress mood is specifically related to anticipation of the stressor.…”

Heart rate variability and critical flicker fusion frequency changes during and after parachute jumping in experienced skydivers

“…These more accurate measurements of the time domain of HRV lead us to consider the hormonal response to be responsible for these. The cortisol response is indeed significant at the time of jump but clearly peaks after the jump as pointed out by many authors (Taverniers et al 2011;Hare et al 2013;Deinzer et al 1997).…”

“…Parachute jumping is considered as a "real-world acute emotional stress" or "life-threatening" event (Mujica-Parodi et al 2009a, b;Dikecligil and Mujica-Parodi 2010) and thus commonly used as a model to assess the physiological mechanisms involved in the acute stress response (Dikecligil and Mujica-Parodi 2010; Hare et al 2013). In particular, free fall has been studied in beginners with the scope of understanding psychological rather than environmental stress (Chatterton et al 1997;Dikecligil and Mujica-Parodi 2010;Roth et al 1996;Hare et al 2013;Taverniers et al 2011;Cavenett and Nixon 2006). During parachute jumping, it seems well admitted that the steady-state response to the stress exposure is an increase in heart rate (HR) (Shane and Slinde 1968;Reid et al 1971;Schedlowski and Tewes 1992;Roth et al 1996).…”

“…The cardiovascular system is indeed challenged by various combinations of the direct effects of physical exercise, posture, hypoxia, cold, respiration, mental load personality and anxiety found in skydiving (Mullen et al 1997;Niebauer and Cooke 1996;Hultgren 1992;Granberg 1991;Grossman 1983;Gorman and Sloan 2000;Valentini and Parati 2009). Hare et al (2013) showed recently that the anxiety state is higher before a skydive in novice, relative to experienced jumpers. Interestingly, studies which have investigated HR have observed increases in heart rate in both novice and experienced jumpers (Roth et al 1996;Allison et al 2012;Leach 2008) which suggests that the increase in HR in experienced jumpers is not solely induced by psychological stress.…”