Abstract:

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of acute sauna and highly intense wrestling exercise on TSH Thyroid Stimulating Hormone and FT4 Free Thyroxin hormones. Fourteen healthy voluntary male wrestlers who had no hormonal disorder and were not using any drug participated in this study. Blood measurement was taken three times from wrestlers’ antecubital vein –10 ml at a time- when they rested before exercise, after wrestling exercise and after the sauna program which took place after a two-day rest. Hormone analyses were done via IMMULITE 2000 auto analyzer. For statistical analysis, in comparing groups, Friedman test was conducted while Wilcoxon test was administered in order to determine the differences between the groups. Within the group, significant increase was found in TSH P=0.003 and FT4 P=0.016 levels after the acute wrestling exercise. While it was observed that TSH levels have no important differences after sauna practice and FT4 levels have important increase P=0.03 . When TSH values were compared after the wrestling exercise and sauna, it was determined that the values of exercise group were significantly high P=0.041 but FT4 values did not have a significant difference. Acute wrestling training applied to the wrestlers caused significant increase in TSH and FT4 values, however, sauna application just enhanced FT4 values significantly. Consequently; it can be deduced that in wrestling in which anaerobic energy metabolism is dominant, acute wrestling training is more effective in increasing TSH and FT4 values than sauna application.

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