Athlete Burnout, Biomarkers, and Mental and Physical Health Consequences: A Three-Wave Mediation Study

According to Smith’s cognitive-affective model of athlete burnout, burnout will have consequences for athletes’ mental and physical health. Such consequences may include depressive symptoms, sleep problems, and physical/somatic symptoms. The link between burnout and these outcomes could be explained by changes in certain biomarkers that are involved in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the immune system. To test this idea, the present study aims to examine whether the relationships between athlete burnout and depressive symptoms, sleep disruptions, insomnia, and physical symptoms is mediated by relevant biomarkers such as testosterone, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, and immunoglobulin A. The present study will also explore changes in gene methylation levels as an additional long-term consequence of athlete burnout. unknown other