Parents' work demands on next day's cortisol awakening response - the moderating role of family-to-work conflict.

BACKGROUND: Constant availability, overtime and feeling overwhelmed by work can impact employees' wellbeing and their biological stress responses. Especially working parents often struggle to balance the demands of their work and family life and were found to be distracted from their work due to family responsibilities. The Family-to-Work Conflict (FWC) indicates the extent to which participating in work is made difficult by family demands. Recent studies have found associations between FWC and biological outcomes such as the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), a measure of an individual's Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA)-axis activity. This diary study investigates the effect of parental work demands on next day's cortisol response as well as the moderating role of FWC and the mediating role of fatigue. METHODS: Over the course of five consecutive days (from Monday to Friday), 168 observations were made on a total of 42 parents. Participants had at least one child and worked a minimum of 20 hours per week. Salivary cortisol samples were obtained immediately, 15 and 30 minutes after awakening each day. Work demands, FWC and fatigue were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Within-person effects were examined using multilevel modeling and mediation analyses. RESULTS: Our results indicate that there are no main effects of work demands on next day's cortisol response. The multilevel analysis revealed that FWC predicts lower wakening cortisol levels and confirmed FWC as an increasing moderator between work demands and next day's HPA-axis activity. Further, work overload was found to increase fatigue, which in turn leads to higher CAR on the following day. This indicates that fatigue mediates the relationship between work demands and CAR. Our findings add to a growing body of research demonstrating further predictors for HPA-axis activity and emphasise the importance of considering family related demands when investigating biological outcomes for working parents.

Effect of acute game-based exercises on steroid hormones and cognitive performance in adolescents.

PURPOSE: While exercise was found to affect cognitive performance in adolescents, the underlying mechanisms need to be considered. This study compared the effect of a 20 min game-based exercise with different intensities on hormonal responses and potential links to cognitive performance. METHODS: 37 adolescents (24 girls and 13 boys; 15-16 years of age) were randomly assigned into light intensity (LIG; 58.64% HRmax), vigorous intensity (VIG; 89.51% HRmax), and control group (CON). The concentration of salivary Testosterone and Cortisol was measured before, immediately after, 20 min and 60 min after the intervention. RESULTS: Repeated-measure ANOVA revealed that neither light nor vigorous game-based exercise acutely affects Testosterone, while Cortisol was higher in the VIG, 20 min after the intervention compared to the LIG and CON. Furthermore, changes in Testosterone were negatively associated with changes in cognitive performance after the acute vigorous intensity exercise (r = -0.63, p = .039) and control condition (r = -0.78, p = .003), but positively associated with post-intervention cognitive performance after the acute light intensity exercise (r = 0.67, p = .012). CONCLUSION: The intensity of game-based exercise affected Cortisol concentration in adolescents, while Testosterone concentration did not change after the intervention. On the other hand, exercise intensity plays an important role in the association between Testosterone concentration and cognitive performance.

The effects of an exercise training on steroid hormones in preadolescent children - a moderator for enhanced cognition?

OBJECTIVE: Research demonstrates a variety of cognitive benefits induced by different chronic physiological stressors (e.g. motor vs. cardiovascular exercise training) and acute exercise to affect steroid hormone secretion, the present study aims to investigate 1.) motor vs. cardiovascular exercise training and their impact on salivary Testosterone, Estradiol and Progesterone and 2.) whether alterations in steroid hormones might moderate exercise-induced cognitive benefits. METHODS: In a randomized control trial, 71 preadolescent children (39 girls) at the age of 9-10 years were randomly assigned to a cardiovascular exercise group (CE), a motor exercise group (ME) as well as a control group (CON) in which students were attending assisted homework. The participants attended their program three times per week, for a total of 10 weeks. Steroid hormones in the saliva, working memory performance and state-trait anxiety levels were determined before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed no chronic changes in hormones through the interventions. Stepwise hierarchical regression revealed the Testosterone*ME-interaction to be a significant moderator for working memory performance post-intervention (ß = 0.48, p = 0.014). Within the ME, increases of Testosterone from t1 to t2 were predicting higher working memory performance post-intervention (ß = 0.45, R2 = 0.16, p = 0.038). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest 1.) that motor-exercise-induced cognitive benefits are moderated by changes in Testosterone and 2.) that a 10-week exercise training of moderate intensity and with a motor demanding vs a cardiovascular character does not affect the chronic concentration of salivary Testosterone, Estradiol and Progesterone nor anxiety levels in preadolescent children.

The impact of an exercise training intervention on cortisol levels and post-traumatic stress disorder in juveniles from an Ugandan refugee settlement: study protocol for a randomized control trial.

BACKGROUND: Latest research demonstrates a significant improvement in stress-related symptoms in psychological disorders as a result of exercise training (ET). Controlled clinical trials further validate the significance of ET by demonstrating lower salivary cortisol levels in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after intervention. A significant change in cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels can already be found after an 8-12-week ET program. The proposed study aims to investigate the impact of an 8-week ET on PTSD symptoms and changes in cortisol levels in a juvenile refugee sample from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at an Ugandan refugee settlement. It is the first to implement an ET intervention in a resource-poor, post-conflict setting. METHODS/DESIGN: In a randomized controlled trial, 198 adolescent participants aged 13-16 years from the DRC who, suffer from PTSD, will be investigated. The participants are based at the Nakivale refugee settlement, an official refugee camp in Uganda, Africa, which is among the largest in the world. The participants will be randomized into an Exercise Training (ET) group with a maximum heart rate (HRmax) of > 60%, an Alternative Intervention (AI) group with low-level exercises, and a Waiting-list Control (WC) group. After the 8-week interventional phase, changes in cortisol awakening response (CAR) and DHEA in the ET group that correspond to an improvement in PTSD symptoms are expected that remain at follow-up after 3 months. DISCUSSION: To date, there is no controlled and reliable longitudinal study examining the effects of an ET program on symptom severity in individuals with PTSD that can be explained with a harmonization of cortisol secretion. The presented study design introduces an intervention that can be implemented with little expenditure. It aims to provide a promising low-threshold and cost-effective treatment approach for the application in resource-poor settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Trials Register, ID: DRKS00014280 . Registered prospectively on 15 March 2018.