the effects of repeated aerobic dance with different durations on salivary cortisol, testosterone and mood of inactive women

the present research was performed to investigate the effects of aerobic dance with different durations on salivary cortisol and testosterone,and consequently on the mood and body mass of inactive young women. the design of the research was quasi–experimental and the sample consisted of 19 inactive young women (mean age: 30+3 years, height: 167+5.1 cm, weight: 65.5+7.4) who were randomly divided into two groups: experimental (n=12) and control (n=7). the experimental group performed aerobic dance for 8 weeks with the intensity of 120 metronome strokes. salivary cortisol and testosterone of all subjects were collected five times during the as well as before and after the dance. a dose of 6 ml salivary solution was obtained before and after the exercise. one–way repeated anova with spss were used to analyze the data. the spearman correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship among the variables. the findings showed that testosterone concentrations decreased after the exercise and during rest. however, cortisol concentrations increased after the exercise and during rest. positive relationships were observed between mood and testosterone concentration after the first session. the same result was obtained for cortisol after the sixteenth session. the mood variable had six subcategories out of which only two measures were found to be related with the period of exercise. the final conclusion of the study was that hormonal responses were related to the duration of the aerobic dance exercise. it is suggested that young women be more active and perform daily exercises especially aerobic dance to avoid depression and to be able to feel happier.