Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2023 Feb;46(2):381-391.
doi: 10.1007/s40618-022-01913-4. Epub 2022 Sep 3.

Military field training exercise with prolonged physical activity and sleep restriction causes hormonal imbalance in firefighter cadets

T Ponce  1   2   3 , M R M Mainenti  4 , E L Cardoso  5   6 , T Ramos de Barros  7   5 , V Pinto Salerno  5 , M Vaisman  6
Affiliations
Observational Study

Military field training exercise with prolonged physical activity and sleep restriction causes hormonal imbalance in firefighter cadets

T Ponce et al. J Endocrinol Invest. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of the "Search and rescue" field military training exercise (SR_FTX) on hormonal modulation and identify their possible correlation with physical and cognitive performance.

Methods: An observational (before and after) study was carried out, with male firefighters cadets (n = 42; age = 23[22;27] years) undergoing a nine-day military exercise (SR_FTX). The Countermovement jump (physical performance), the Stroop test (cognitive alertness), and blood tests for testosterone, cortisol, GH, and IGF-1 were applied. Wilcoxon for paired samples and Spearman's correlation tests were used.

Results: Testosterone (751.10 [559.10;882.8] vs. 108.40 [80.12;156.40] ng/dL) and IGF-1 (217.5 [180;239.30] vs. 105 [93;129] ng/mL) significantly decreased while GH (0.10 [0.06;0.18] vs. 1.10 [0.58;2.28] ng/mL) and cortisol (9.60 [8.20;11.55] vs. 15.55 [12.28;18.98] ug/dL) significantly increased. Physical performance (31.2 [30.04;35.4] vs. 21.49 [19,02;23,59] cm) and cognitive alertness were significantly worse after SR_FTX (Congruent task: 1,78 (0183) vs. 1,56 (0185) response/s and incongruous task: 1,23 (0191) vs. 1,02 (0207) response/s). The physical performance showed a strong correlation with testosterone (rho = 0.694) and regular correlations with both IGF-1 (rho = 0.598) and cortisol (rho = - 0.580). The Stroop test presented weak correlations with GH (rho = - 0.350) and cortisol (rho = - 0.361).

Conclusion: SR_FTX negatively impacted hormonal modulation, physical and cognitive performance. These findings could help commanders decide to replace the employed firefighters in a real mission more frequently. Also, if the real scenario allows, they could think about providing better work conditions, such as improving caloric intake and rest periods, to preserve the military performance and health.

Keywords: Cognitive performance; Firefighter; Hormonal modulation; Military exercise; Physical performance.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Academia de Bombeiro Militar Dom Pedro II (2016) Normas Gerais de Ação do Estágio Básico de Busca Resgate e Sobrevivência. Corpo de Bombeiros Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Boletim do Comando da ABMDPIInº172
    1. Drain JR, Groeller H, Burley SD, Nindl BC (2017) Hormonal response patterns are differentially influenced by physical conditioning programs during basic military training. J Sci Med Sport 20:98–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.08.020 - DOI
    1. Nindl BC, Barnes BR, Alemany JA et al (2007) Physiological consequences of US Army ranger training. Med Sci Sports Exerc 39(8):1380–1387. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318067e2f7 - DOI
    1. Nelson D L, Cox M M (2014) Princípios de Bioquímica de Lehninger. Artmed, Porto Alegre
    1. Church DD, Gwin JA, Wolfe RR et al (2019) Mitigation of muscle loss in stressed physiology: Military relevance. Nutrients 11(8):1703. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081703 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources