Salivary Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase Reactivity to Basketball Games in Young and Senior Athletes

Abstract

Basketball games proved to elicit high heart rate (HR) responses in young and senior players. Although stress-related responses to youth competitions have been studied, no information is available on senior players. PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a basketball game on salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), and free cortisol (sC) in young and senior male players. METHODS: Ten young (16 ± 1 years) and 10 senior (51 ± 7 years) male basketball players participated in a 60-min youth and senior game, respectively. Saliva sample were collected immediately before (pre) and after (post) the game, and at 10 (post10), 20 (post20), and 30-min (post30) of the recovery period. Samples were analyzed using kinetic reaction assay for sAA and ELISA method for sC. To evaluate the intensity of exercise, HR responses measured during the competition were expressed as frequency of occurrence exceeding 85% of individual HRmax. Salivary values were expressed as means and SEM. RESULTS: No difference emerged between age groups. During the games, the occurrence of HR >85% HRmax was 81 ± 23% and 73 ± 22% for young and senior athletes, respectively. Peak sAA values were always observed at the end of the game (314.5 ± 36.0 U/ml), with significant differences (p<0.0001) with respect to baseline values (91.8 ± 13.4 U/ml) and recovery samplings (post10: 203.8 ± 31.6 U/ml; post20: 154.2 ± 20.9 U/ml; post30: 144.0 ± 18.3 U/ml). Baseline sC values (4.8 ± 1.0 nmol/L) were different (p<0.0001) from post game (12.2 ± 2.3 nmol/L) and recovery (post10: 13.2 ± 2.8 nmol/L; post20: 12.0 ± 2.6 nmol/L; post30: 13.3 ± 2.9 nmol/L) samplings. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that a basketball game poses a high stress on young and senior players eliciting high cardiovascular responses and significant sC and sAA increments at the end of the game. While during the recovery phase sC remains elevated, sAA values return to baseline within 30 minutes post game. This could mirror the faster reactivity and recovery of the sympathetic-adrenomedullary system relatively to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system. Although age-related stress responses were expected, the present findings indicate that regular basketball practice could help senior players in preserving the ability to cope the sport-related stress.