Chronic Exposure to Normobaric Hypoxia Increases Testosterone Levels and Testosterone/Cortisol Ratio in Cyclists

Miłosz Czuba, Kamila Płoszczyca, Katarzyna Kaczmarczyk, Józef Langfort and Robert Gajda
Additional contact information
Miłosz Czuba: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, 00-968 Warsaw, Poland
Kamila Płoszczyca: Department of Kinesiology, Institute of Sport, 01-982 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Kaczmarczyk: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, 00-968 Warsaw, Poland
Józef Langfort: Department of Sports Theory, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education, 40-065 Katowice, Poland
Robert Gajda: Center for Sports Cardiology, Gajda-Med Medical Center in Pultusk, 06-100 Pultusk, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the “live high, train low” method (LH–TL) and intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) on testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels in cyclists. Thirty cyclists participated in the experiment. The LH–TL group ( n = 10) was exposed to normobaric hypoxia (FiO 2 = 16.3%) for 11–12 h a day and trained in normoxia for 3 weeks. In the IHT group ( n = 10), participants followed the IHT routine three times a week for 3 weeks in normobaric hypoxia (FiO 2 = 16.3%). The control group (N; n = 10) followed the same training protocol in normoxia. The LH–TL training was found to significantly increase ( p < 0.05) T levels and the testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio during the experiment. The area under the curve (AUC) calculated for T levels over 4 weeks was significantly ( p < 0.05) higher in the LH–TL group, by 25.6%, compared to the N group. The results also indicated a significant correlation (r = 0.53; p < 0.05) between AUC for T levels over 4 weeks and ∆ values of hemoglobin (HGB) in the LH–TL group. Overall, the findings show that LH–TL training at a moderate simulated altitude contributes to an increase in T levels and T/C ratio in athletes, which is a beneficial change stimulating anabolic processes and erythropoiesis.

Keywords: hypoxia; testosterone; cortisol; anabolic–catabolic response; altitude training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5246/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5246/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5246-:d:802243

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().