Physical Activity, Metabolic Risk and the Primary Allostatic Load Mediators in Healthy Adults: An Explorative Study

Background: Chronic stress causes disturbances to the physiological responses of the body’s allostatic systems. However, regular physical activity (PA) helps mitigate the accumulation of allostatic load (AL) by enhancing adaptive stress responses and im-proving metabolic health. The current study investigated PA on the primary mediators of AL and metabolic risk markers and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in healthy adults in Germany. Methods: 46 adults (18 - 45 years) were categorized into regular PA (≥ 150 min a week) and non-regular PA (≤ 150 min a week) group. Primary AL mediators were quantified by cortisol (g/12h), epinephrine (g/12h), norepinephrine (g/12h), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S: g/ml). Mann Whitney U-test was used to find the differences between the two groups concerning primary mediators of AL, and metabolic risk markers. Results: Significant differences (p = 0.01) were observed on cortisol between the groups. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found on metabolic risk markers such as triglycerides, blood pressure, BMI, and HDL-C among the two groups. The MetS diagnosis criteria were met by only n = 2 participants – one from the regular PA and one from the non-regular PA group. Conclusion: Findings show regular PA may support-stress regulatory mechanisms and protection against early metabolic dysregu-lation.