Hormonal responses to physical and cognitive stress in a school setting

Little is known about the influence of physical and cognitive stress on the concentration of steroid hormones (SHs) in a school setting. Forty high school students from the 9th grade were randomly assigned to two intervention groups: physical and cognitive stress. Saliva collection took place before (pre-test) and after (post-test) 12 min of high intensity exercise in a defined heart rate (HR) interval (70–85% HR max; n = 19) and cognitive testing (Letter Digit Span and d2-test, n = 21), respectively. Saliva was analyzed for testosterone (T) and cortisol (C). Results indicated a significant increase of T and C due to a physical but not cognitive stressor. Thus, only the physical stressor was capable of activating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) and the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis.