20.500.12556/RUL-185642 Associations between subjective and objective measures of stress and load an insight from 45-week prospective study in 189 elite athletes Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between subjective and objective measures of stress and load in elite male handball players at both the group and individual levels. Methods: In this 45-week prospective cohort study, 189 elite male handball players weekly reported their perceived stress and load across training, competition, academic, and work domains. Blood samples were collected five times during the 2022/23 season to measure cortisol and the free testosterone to cortisol ratio (FTCR). We derived a “load” variable as the sum of training, competition, academic and work hours and calculated acute, chronic, and acute-to-chronic ratio variables for both load and stress. Associations between subjective and objective measures were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation. Results: Weak to moderate positive associations were found between load and perceived stress (r = 0.19 to 0.46, p < 0.001), and between perceived stress and cortisol (r = 0.10, p = 0.023). Weak negative associations were found between perceived stress and FTCR (r = −0.18 to −0.20, p < 0.001) and between load and FTCR (r = −0.13, p = 0.003). A total of 86% of athletes had positive associations between stress and load (47% weak, 34% moderate, 5% high); 78% between stress and cortisol (27% weak, 22% moderate, 29% high); and 63% demonstrated negative associations between FTCR and load (18% weak, 32% moderate, 13% high). Conclusion: This study highlights the complexity between subjective and objective measures of stress and load in athletes. Understanding the link between these measures may help coaches and sports scientists streamline athlete monitoring. In cases where moderate to strong associations exist, subjective measures might serve as a reliable substitute for objective ones, making the monitoring process more time- and cost-efficient. sport handball stress subjective perception training load academic load weekly athlete monitoring cortisol šport rokomet stres subjektivna percepcija vadbena obremenitev akademska obremenitev tedensko spremljanje športnika kortizol true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-08-14 13:03:59 2026-08-14 13:04:01 2026-08-15 04:01:48 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 11 str. art. 1521290 Vol. 15 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 796.322 1664-1078 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1521290 223522307 fpsyg-15-1521290.pdf fpsyg-15-1521290.pdf 1 7A195607B58F6277D025E45EF0FFD269 cda7e9724b8d9b4cc5e396fc53ba3ec08349707e63c5a3737b961d1a0e765ca1 16af0633-97d2-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=244382 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1521290/full 1 7fd92e3a-97cf-11f1-9b0d-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=244379 Fakulteta za šport 0 0 0