Steroid hormones in the saliva of adolescents after different exercise intensities and their influence on working memory in a school setting

Budde, Henning; Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia; Pietrassyk-Kendziorra, Sascha; Machado, Sergio; Ribeiro, Pedro; Arafat, Ayman M.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.07.015

« Previous Next »Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume 35, Issue 3 , Pages 382-391, April 2010

Steroid hormones in the saliva of adolescents after different exercise intensities and their influence on working memory in a school setting

Henning Budde
- Department of Movement and Training Sciences, Institute of Sport Science, Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 11, 10115 Berlin, Germany
- Both the authors contributed equally to this work.
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 30 2093 4652; fax: +49 30 2093 4646.
Claudia Voelcker-Rehage
- Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany
- Both the authors contributed equally to this work.
Sascha Pietrassyk-Kendziorra
- Department of Movement and Training Sciences, Institute of Sport Science, Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 11, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Sergio Machado
- Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration, Institute of Psychiatry, Rio de Janeiro (IPUB/UFRJ), 69 apto. 104, Profesor Sabóia Ribeiro Street – Leblon – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Pedro Ribeiro
- Brain Mapping and Sensory Motor Integration, Institute of Psychiatry, Rio de Janeiro (IPUB/UFRJ), 69 apto. 104, Profesor Sabóia Ribeiro Street – Leblon – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ayman M. Arafat
- Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Charité-University Medicine Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany

Received 7 March 2009; received in revised form 21 July 2009; accepted 22 July 2009.

Summary

Little is known, about the influence of different exercise intensities on cognition, the concentration of steroid hormones (SHs), and their interaction in adolescents. Sixty high school students from the 9th grade were randomly assigned to two experimental (EG 1, EG 2) and a control group (CG). Saliva collection took place after a normal school lesson (t1) and after a 12-min resting control or exercise (t2) in a defined heart rate (HR) interval (EG 1: 50–65% HR max, n=18; EG 2: 70–85% HR max, n=20; CG: no intervention, n=21). Saliva was analyzed for T and C. Cognitive performance was assessed using a working memory task (Letter Digit Span; LDS), which took place after t1 and t2. Repeated measure ANOVAs revealed a significant group by test interaction, indicating an increase of C and T level only for EG 2. Results for LDS showed a significant improvement due to exercise when groups were split into low and high performer at pre-test with a higher improvement of the low performers. In addition, post-test T levels negatively correlated with changes in LDS performance in EG 2. The results indicate that the concentrations of C and T are intensity dependent, and that exercise improves working memory in low performing adolescents. Only increased T, however, seems to be related to pre-to-post-test changes in working memory by having a detrimental effect on performance.