The Effects of Acute Coordinative vs. Acute Endurance Exercise on the Cortisol Concentration

Abstract

ObjectivePhysical exercise interventions can cause neuroendocrine activation, which in turn increases salivary cortisol concentrations. Until now there have been mostly studies focusing on endurance as one possible mode of exercise. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of these different interventions with an intraindividual comparison.Methods61 students between 18 and 30 years of age were included and first completed a coordinative exercise and seven days later an endurance exercise of the same intensity and length which was self- set on the first day, with a maximum heart rate of 64 - 76% (HRmax) over a period of 15 min. To measure changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA- axis) activity, saliva samples were collected before (t1) and after exercise (t2 and t3).ResultsBaseline values of cortisol (t0) did not differ significantly between coordinative and endurance exercise, t(55) = .233,p= .816. Post hoc tests revealed that the cortisol values of the second coordinative vs. endurance time point,t(55) = 2.097,p= .040,d= .741, and third coordinative vs. endurance time point,t(55) = 3.004,p= .004,d= .735, differed significantly with large effect sizes.ConclusionThe results show that coordinative exercise produced a higher cortisol release than endurance exercise. Interventions such as coordinative exercise require higher cognitive components resulting in stronger cortisol release than endurance exercise of the same intensity and length. Thus, the type of acute physical stress is a psychophysiological factor in determining the neuroendocrine stress response.