Effect Of Allostatic Load And Psychological Resilience On Physical Performance In Female Collegiate Athletes

Female, collegiate athletes are exposed to a unique combination of sport, academic, and social stressors. Resilience can be defined as an athlete’s ability to cope with variations in allostatic load and may affect their ability to perform. PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of allostatic loads, perceived stress (burnout and academic stress), and resilience on physical performance in female collegiate athletes. METHODS: 14 female Division I athletes underwent testing at 3 timepoints representing either low (start of pre-season; V0), moderate (start of competitive season; V1), or high allostatic loads (end of the season; V2). At each timepoint, athletes completed a series of questionnaires (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale [CD-RISC], Athlete Burnout Scale [ABS], and Perception of Academic Stress Scale [PAS]) and a standardised lactate threshold (LT) test followed by 30 minutes of cycling at a workload to elicit 5 mM of blood lactate. Total work and average power were calculated from the 30 min of exercise. Heart rate (HR) was monitored throughout the exercise test. Repeated measures analysis examined changes in psychological outcomes over time. Linear regression was used to explore the relationships between psychological and physical outcomes. RESULTS: No effect of visit was found on CD-RISC, PAS, or ABS (P ≥ 0.82), but intra-individual coefficients of variation were 7.4 ± 6.0%, 8.2 ± 5.7%, and 8.4 ± 3.9%, respectively. No relationships between baseline score in the three psychological scales and change in work at 5 mM of blood lactate (P ≥ 0.53), total work (P ≥ 0.33), average power (P ≥ 0.33), and average HR (P > 0.16) from V0 to V2 were found. However, work at 5 mM of blood lactate correlated to PAS (r = -0.36, P = 0.02) and CD-RISC (r = -0.53, P < 0.01), total work to ABS (r = -0.35, P = 0.02), average power and ABS (r = -0.34, P < 0.03), and average HR to CD-RISC ( r = 0.32, P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: While variation in psychological measures exist throughout a season, ABS and PAS did not reflect the a-priori assumed allostatic loads and psychological resilience at V0 does not appear to predict performance at V2. Greater burnout and academic stress may reduce power and work capacity but conclusions are unclear for psychological resilience, as athletes may report high resilient yet experience performance decrements when exposed to stress. Supported by: Grant funding received from Wu-Tsai Human Performance Alliance (Harvard University)