Abstract
ObjectiveChronic stress has been related to impaired body composition (bone, muscle, adipose tissue), and disturbed autonomic nervous system (ANS), the latter regulated by hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between salivary cortisol, body composition and heart rate variability (HRV—highly influenced by ANS), in a young student population.MethodsBody composition and HRV parameters were measured using two portable devices based on multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance and photoplethysmography. Body composition included measurement of bone, lean/muscle and adipose tissues. HRV included time domain and frequency domain indices. Salivary cortisol, immediately after awakening, 60 min post awakening and late night was collected and analyzed by ELISA.ResultsParticipants included n = 43 healthy university students (39 women, 4 men); 21.1 ± 1.3 years, BMI = 21.8 ± 3.4 kg/m2. Skeletal muscle was reduced in most of the participants, bone mass was at the lower normal range, while the fat tissue parameters were normal with only 7% participants being overweight. Cortisol and HRV parameters of sympathetic predominance (low frequency—LF and low frequency/high frequency ratio—LF/HF) were significantly associated with higher fat tissue parameters (fat mass—FM% and intramuscular adipose tissue—IMAT%) (p <0.001 and p = 0.035, respectively) and with lower skeletal muscle (p = 0.002) and bone mass (p = 0.025).ConclusionsThe results point to a role of cortisol and ANS in the control of all three body composition compartments, suggesting that the stress can result in adverse effects on body composition, even in young, apparently healthy individuals.
Highlights
It is well established that chronic stress could eventually lead to the exhaustion of the hormonal, cardiovascular, neural, and muscular system with pathologic consequences on every organ-system in the body [1, 2], namely, body composition [3]; the latter being less studied and understood [4]
All heart rate variability (HRV) parameters were within the reference values, the frequency domain parameters were at the lower limit of normal values (Table 2)
In the analysis of the relationship between cortisol levels and body composition, the results showed that low frequencies (LF)/high frequencies (HF) was significantly lower in participants with decreased skeletal muscle (SM)% compared to those with normal SM% (p = 0.048) (Table 3)
Summary
It is well established that chronic stress could eventually lead to the exhaustion of the hormonal, cardiovascular, neural, and muscular system with pathologic consequences on every organ-system in the body [1, 2], namely, body composition (bone, muscle and adipose tissue impairments) [3]; the latter being less studied and understood [4]. A stress-related elevated cortisol might lead to HPA axis dysregulation, having both psychological and physiological impacts. In terms of physiological impact on body composition, there is a strong relationship between elevated cortisol levels and abdominal obesity, loss of bone mineral density [9], and to the lesser extent, impairments in lean/muscle tissue. Likewise, elevated cortisol has been related to impaired body composition (bone, muscle, adipose tissue) and possibly onset of osteosarcopenic adiposity syndrome (OSA) [4]. OSA presents the most advanced stage of body composition deterioration with simultaneous impairment of bone (osteopenia/osteoporosis), muscle (sarcopenia), and excess adipose tissue [11, 12]
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