Hormonal responses to a stress load and state anxiety, mood, tiredness, and recovery in Portuguese police cadets.

Introduction: Police officers are repeatedly exposed to conditions and incidents unique to their work.

Objectives: To describe the hormonal response to a stress load (circuit fitness test) in police cadets, and to verify the association of hormone responses (cortisol and testosterone) with state anxiety, mood, tiredness, and recovery.

Methods: This is an analytical, observational, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. A total of 31 police cadets (all male; age 21.0 ± 4.4 years) were evaluated on February 4, 2022, at Instituto Superior de Ciências Policiais e Segurança Interna, Lisbon, Portugal, in four dimensions: morphological, fitness for police work (simulated circuit), hormonal (cortisol and testosterone responses), and psychological (anxiety, mood, stress, and recovery).

Results: We observed differences in cortisol concentration upon awakening and the reference value; a decrease in cortisol and testosterone concentrations until the time of fitness testing; and increases in cortisol and testosterone concentrations in response to completing the fitness test. Regarding the hormone response in anticipation of the fitness test, there is a direct correlation of cortisol with hostility and social stress and an inverse correlation of testosterone with conflicts/pressure, sleep quality, emotional exhaustion, and the sum of the recovery and stress scales. Regarding the hormone response to actually performing the task, a positive correlation was found between cortisol and personal acceptance and self-regulation.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the police cadets exhibited a healthy response to the proposed stress situation. However, whether they would respond likewise in real-world scenarios is unclear.