Endocrine Abstracts

Our understanding of endocrine adaptation to exercise is underpinned by studies which demonstrated a causative link between low energy availability, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis suppression. These and myriad other effects have been observed in elite athletes, termed Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), whereby negative hormonal and metabolic ramifications of exercise can be mitigated by increasing the nutrition: exercise ratio. However, many individuals experience non-exercise stressors concurrent to exercise (e.g., dealing with conflict, insufficient sleep, or time pressures) and there is uncertainty around hormonal adaptation to exercise in this ‘arduous’ training context. This talk will explore some contentious issues surrounding exercise endocrinology, presenting data from longitudinal studies of military women and men who exercised during multi-stressor training. The findings are not solely explained by the RED-S paradigm and are pertinent to the current debate between RED-S and overtraining syndrome. The need for future studies will be discussed, including how we might attempt to delineate the impact of non-exercise stressors from low energy availability.