Changes in plasma eosinophils and cortisol of women in competition

This study investigated degrees of stress in ten advanced and high intermediate college women tennis players when competing against other women and when competing against men. Evidence of stress was determined through fluctuations in the plasma eosinophil and cortisol levels. Blood samples were drawn three times (prior to exercises, after a five minute warm-up and after 15 minutes of competition) on each of the four days of testing. Each sample was analyzed for eosinophil counts and cortisol. Changes in eosinophil counts of 30 percent or more were considered significant. There appeared to be a trend toward eosinopenia during competition as compared with warm-up. None of the chi-squares comparing competition against men with competition against women was significant. Cortisol changes were analyzed using ANOVA. Again none of the competitive cortisol differences was significant among male or female competitors. When the cortisol data was pooled, significant differences in response to stress were found between the individual players. Individual responses were examined separately in the text of this article.