Balancing stress and recovery in sports

Abstract

To reach elite level in sports, athletes have to start their intensive and time-consuming training at an early stage. The road to the top is a stressful one, not only due to the physiological stress of training, but also caused by psychological and social stress. In order to improve performance athletes continuously challenge their personal boundaries. This may lead to a local or general overload of the human body that results into injuries, illnesses and overtraining. Overtraining is characterized by an unexplained decrement in sport-specific performance and is often coupled with symptoms such as increased fatigue, poor concentration, disturbed mood, and altered eating and sleeping patterns. Full recovery may take months to years. Monitoring stress and recovery may help to optimize performance and prevent a local or general overload. Clinical measurements showed that mood state and hormonal responses to a double maximal exercise protocol provided valuable information to confirm the diagnosis of overtraining.