Physical activity and cortisol regulation : A meta-analysis
Year of publication
2023
Authors
Moyers, Susette A.; Hagger, Martin S.
Abstract
Physical activity participation is associated with effective stress coping, indicated by decreases in both physiological stress reactivity and perceived stress. Quantifying the effect of physical activity on the diurnal regulation of one key physiological stress indicator, the stress hormone, cortisol, across studies may demonstrate the extent to which physical activity participation is associated with diurnal HPA axis regulation. We meta-analyzed studies examining relations between physical activity participation and indices of HPA axis regulation: the diurnal cortisol slope and the cortisol awakening response. We also examined moderators of the relation. The analysis revealed a small, non-zero negative averaged correlation between physical activity and the diurnal cortisol slope (r = −0.043, 95% CI [−0.080, −0.004]). Examination of sample sociodemographic differences, study design characteristics, cortisol measurement methods, and physical activity variables as moderators revealed few effects on the relation between physical activity and diurnal cortisol slope. We did not observe lower levels of variability in the mean cortisol awakening response at higher levels of physical activity participation, and moderator analyses showed little evidence of reductions in heterogeneity for this effect. We found some evidence of systematic publication bias. Findings suggest higher physical activity is associated with a steeper diurnal cortisol slope. However, the cortisol awakening response did not differ by physical activity level. Future studies testing the physical activity and cortisol regulation association should use standardized physical activity measures, follow guidelines for better quality cortisol sampling collection and analysis, and test relations in large-scale empirical studies to confirm the direction and causality of the effect.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
University of Jyväskylä
Hagger Martin
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Review article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic reviewPublication channel information
Journal
Publisher
Volume
179
Article number
108548
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
2
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
No
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Biomedicine; Sport and fitness sciences; Psychology
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Publication country
Netherlands
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108548
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes