THE IMPACT OF ROCK CLIMBING ON ANXIETY AND CORTISOL Christopher I. Hodgson, Nick Draper, Glenys A. Jones, Simon Fryer, Ian Coleman, & Terry McMorris University of Chichester, UK. PURPOSE To examine the effect of different levels of stress during three styles of rock climbing on subjective anxiety scores and cortisol levels. INTRODUCTION Rock climbing is a complex recreational activity with physical, cognitive and emotional control demands. Previous studies have tended to treat climbing as a physical task with only one previous study(1) examining adrenaline and nor adrenaline concentrations during climbing. No study has attempted to examine cortisol during climbing however one study has attempted to examine the relationship between anxiety and motor control during climbing (2). HYPOTHESES • More stressful climbing protocols will result in higher subjective anxiety ratings. • More stressful climbing protocols would invoke higher plasma cortisol concentrations. • There will be a significant relationship between subjective anxiety rating and cortisol concentrations. METHOD Participants The participants (N = 12) were undergraduates who were active recreational rock climbers aged 20.67 (1.30) years. Participants were 1.77 (0.07) m tall, 69.61 (5.70) kg and body fat was 9.0 (3.2)%. Climbing experience ranged from 3.5 to 4 years. Procedure Climbers completed a familiarisation on the route and then completed three experimental condition climbs. These were allocated randomly in order to limit learning effects. The conditions were leading (high stress) lead and top rope (moderate stress) and top rope (low stress). During the high stress condition climbers were required to manage their own safety rope during the ascent. Subjective Anxiety Assessment Climbers completed a Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2R) immediately after completing each ascent and they were asked summarise how they had felt during climbing. The CSAI-2R has subscales for cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self confidence (3). Plasma Cortisol Concentrations Capillary blood samples were taken prior to and 15 minutes after climbing. These were used to obtain plasma cortisol concentrations. Statistical Treatment Differences between state anxiety levels in the three conditions were assessed using a one way repeated measures ANOVA for cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self confidence. Differences in cortisol concentrations were assessed using a one way repeated measures ANOVA for Δ cortisol. Regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between plasma cortisol concentrations and subjective anxiety (CSAI-2R) scores(cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self confidence). Figures 3, 4 & 5. Relationship between Cortisol and Subjective Anxiety Rating CONCLUSIONS The differing demands of the three climbing protocols appears to have had a significant impact on CSAI-2R self confidence and somatic anxiety rating but not cognitive anxiety. Where these changes occurred they were in the direction expected: more stressful conditions eliciting greater anxiety and lower self confidence. Plasma cortisol concentrations responded differently in each of the three conditions. During the least stressful condition cortisol concentration actually dropped whilst in the highest stress condition cortisol level increased. Increasing levels of somatic anxiety were associated with rising levels of cortisol. However there appeared to be a plateau for cortisol at intermediate levels of somatic anxiety. The higher levels of cortisol found at low levels of cognitive anxiety / high levels of self confidence would tend to support the hypothesis that positive emotions can be associated with increases in cortisol (4, 5). . RESULTS Statistical differences were found for somatic anxiety (F[2,22] = 7.74, p = .009, η 2 = .413) and self confidence (F[2,22] = 9.52, p = .001, η 2 = .464) but not for cognitive anxiety. Scores for each condition can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 1. CSAI-2R Rating for Each Climbing Condition Statistical differences were also found for change (Δ) in cortisol concentration (F[2,22] = 3.71, p = .041, η 2 = .252). These changes can be seen in Figure 2. Cortisol concentration increased in the high stress condition and decreased in the low stress condition. Figure 2. Changes in Plasma Cortisol Concentration Regressions analyses showed cubic relationships between plasma cortisol concentration and cognitive anxiety (R 2 = .425, p < .0005), self confidence (R 2 = .281, p = .004)and somatic anxiety (R 2 = .268, p = .017). Figures 3, 4 and 5 show these relationships. REFERNCES 1. Williams, E.S., Taggart, P., and Carruthers, M. (1978). British Journal of Sports Medicine, 12, 175-178. 2. Pijpers, J.R., Oudejans, R.R.D., and Bakker, F. (2005). The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,17, 421-445. 3. Cox, R.H. (2003). Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25, 519-533. 4. Pollard, T.M. (1995). American Journal of Human Biology, 7, 265-274. 5. Hubert, W., and de Jong-Meyer, R. (1992) In C. Kirschbaum et al. (Eds.), Assessment of Hormones and Drugs in Saliva in Biobehavioural Research (pp. 213-217). Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers. Cognitive Anxiety 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 Plasma Cortisol Concentration (ng∙mL -1 ) 200.00 150.00 100.00 50.00 Self Confidence 40.00 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 Plasma Cortisol Concentration (ng∙mL -1 ) 200.00 150.00 100.00 50.00 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Lead Lead and Top Rope Top Rope Cognitive Anxiety Somatic Anxiety Self Confidence Condition CSAI-2R Score -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 Lead Lead and Top Rope Top Rope Change in Plasma Cortisol Concentration (ng·mL -1 ) Condition Somatic Anxiety 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 Plasma Cortisol Concentration (ng∙mL -1 ) 200.00 150.00 100.00 50.00 Cubic Observed