Mελέτη του stress σε κριτές ρυθμικής γυμναστικής επίσημου πρωταθλήματος κατά την έναρξη και τη λήξη των αγώνων

Καθηγητής Κουτσιλιέρης Μιχάλης

Mελέτη του stress σε κριτές ρυθμικής γυμναστικής επίσημου πρωταθλήματος κατά την έναρξη και τη λήξη των αγώνων

Stress hormones responses in rhythmic gymnastics judges at the beginning and the end of a national competition

Rhythmic Gymnastics is an aesthetic event balancing between art and sport. It has a perfomance rating system ( Code of points) and it is one of the sports which competition results greatly depend on th judges' evaluation. The main cause for unintensional mistakes of the judges in the rating is the fatigue of the judges. Stress is a fundamental process. The human stress response involves complex signaling pathway among neurons, somatic cells and chemical interactions to keep the homeostasis. Cortisol, is an important indicator of stress, and its secretion presents secretory spikes, especially in the morning hours and weaker in the evening and as a result at the first eight hours of the morning, it is secreted 70% of the total amount of cortisol produced the whole 24 hours of the day. Oxytocin, is a neurohypophysial peptide which is produced in the paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus and is called th “ love” hormone responsible for the feelings of joy and euphoria ( for example at women eho breastfeed a.o.), but also is released by the pituitary gland in response to various stressful stimuli, including pain, fear and exposure to an unfamiliar environment. The purpose of this study is to find the stress responses of the judges of Rhythmic Gymnastics at the beginning of the competition and then in the end after fourteen hours under stressful conditions, full of work and judging, estimating how the fatigue and the pressure of the workload can affect the stress hormones. We measured 17 judges, by taken samples of saliva, and applied the competitive immunoassay ( ELISA) using ELISA kits for cortisol and oxytocin. Also, they answered the scientific questionnaire for assessing depression and stress, the Anxiety Inventory ( Laux 1981) and the Self- Rating Depression Scale( Zung 1965). The results show decline of the cortisol levels after the competition from 4,68+- 1,29 ng/ml to 3,37+- 0,64ng/ml (t-test: 0,0004), because of the biorhyth and the secretion of the hormone, but the decline was not so great as others studies found for people under normal conditions. Oxytocin levels were, also, lower at the end of the competition, 0,74+- 0,47 ng/ml to 0,51+- 0,36 ng/ml (t-test:0,012), as the contents of the judges' work is not based on positive procedures and euphoria, but instead it provokes stress. According to Pearson's method, the flunctuation between the two hormones for each judge seperately shows no statistical significant negative correlation as it was expected. The average score for the judges at the Anxiety Inventory was normal, < 70 ( 100th percentile).

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