The Contrasting Effects of Emotional Tension and Physical Exercise on the Excretion of 17-Ketogenic Steroids and 17-Ketosteroids

Selye (1950) claims that muscular exercise and emotional stresses, as well as many other stimuli, activate the adrenal cortex. Most of the evidence in support of these postulates is derived from experiments on specially treated animals; the effects of physiological stresses on human adrenal function have received less attention. Earlier studies on the effects of muscular exercise or of emotional stress on human adrenal function frequently relied on the eosinophil count as the index of function (e. g. Renold et al., 1951). This approach, however, can no longer be considered conclusive since it is now established that the eosinopenia following the application of stress is not a specific test for an increase in adrenocortical function (Thorn et al., 1953). In spite of the application to this problem of more definitive indices of adrenal function such as plasma and urinary levels of corticosteroids, the effects of physical and mental stresses on