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Authors W Daly, AC Hackney
Title   Is exercise cortisol response of endurance athletes similar to levels 
of Cushing's syndrome?
Full source     Biology of Sport, 2005, Vol 22, Iss 3, pp 209-214

Several theories exist as to the mechanism causing the development of the, 
Overtraining Syndrome in athletes. One theory proposes hypercortisolemic; 
states (e.g., ''pseudo'' Cushing's Syndrome type-condition) brought on by 
intensive exercise training and the stress of sporting competitions results in 
neuroendocrine dysfunctions and subsequent physiological compromise. We 
wondered whether stressful exercise could provoke changes in cortisol to the 
magnitude of that seen in Cushing's Syndrome patients. Therefore we conducted a 
study to determine if the cortisol levels in highly trained endurance athletes 
in response to a stressful exercise bout compared to that found in Cushing 
Syndrome patients. Cortisol levels were examined in physically active men at 
rest, and after intensive, prolonged exercise (similar to 85 min at 75% 
VO(2)max) and compared to that of Cushing's patients at rest. Results showed 
exercise does significantly (p < 0.001) and substantially elevate cortisol to 
near Cushing's Syndrome levels. However, the cortisol response to exercise in 
athletes is highly transient and abates rapidly. The present findings support 
that cortisol responses to exercise such as what endurance athletes might 
encounter in their sporting competition (or during an intensive exercise 
training session) can elevate cortisol to the levels seen in Cushing Syndrome 
patients (i.e., for only a short period of time).


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