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J Behav Med (2014) 37:11181133 DOI 10.1007/s10865-014-9562-9
Effects of a 12-week endurance training program on the physiological response to psychosocial stress in men: a randomized controlled trial
Sandra Klaperski Bernadette von Dawans
Markus Heinrichs Reinhard Fuchs
Received: July 31, 2013 / Accepted: March 10, 2014 / Published online: March 23, 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract The present study experimentally tested the cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis by examining whether endurance exercise training leads to reductions in the physiological stress response to a psychosocial stressor. We randomly assigned 149 healthy men to a 12-week exercise training, relaxation training, or a wait list control group. Before and after intervention we assessed the groups physical tness (lactate testing) and compared their physiological stress responses to the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups in terms of salivary free cortisol, heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV); the nal sample consisted of 96 subjects. As hypothesized, the exercise training signicantly improved tness and reduced stress reactivity in all three parameters; however, it only improved stress recovery in terms of HR. The relaxation program reduced only cortisol, but not HR or HRV reactivity; no changes emerged for the control group. The ndings suggest that the cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis is valid for cardiovascular as well as endocrine stress reactivity.
Keywords Cortisol Cross-stressor adaptation
hypothesis Heart rate variability Physical exercise
Stress reactivity Trier Social Stress Test
Introduction
Stress is one of the major threats for physical and mental health (Chrousos, 2009). Although the deleterious effects of stress are well known, stress levels in the general population are high, prompting researchers to focus their attention on the topic of stress regulation (American Psychological Association, 2013). Empirical research has found physical exercise to be a remedy for many stress-related physical and mental diseases (Raglin & Wilson, 2012; Warburton et al., 2006), and it has long been recognized that physical exercise and stress are closely interrelated (de Geus & Stubbe, 2007). One specic aspect of the exercise-stress relationship has been highlighted by the cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis. It states that regular exercise leads to biological adaptations which contribute to reduced physiological reactions not only to exercise-related stressors but to stressors in general (Gerber, 2008; Sothmann, 2006). As empirical ndings show that chronic hyper-elevated activations and...