The Effect of Voice of the Holy Quran on Cortisol, ACTH and Psychological Factors During one Maximal Exercise in Young Female Athletes

The holy Quran، Mohammad''s miracle، is a treasure that was descended on him with the advent of Islam out of which novel and wonderful knowledge and science have been discovered over time. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of voice of the Holy Quran on cortisol، ACTH and psychological indices during one maximal exercise training in young female athletes. In this study، twenty four volunteer students were divided into two groups (n=12) while one group (experimental) heard the recitation of the Holy Quran، the second group (control) did not. The mean age of the subjects was 21. 6، their mean height 163. 8 cm and their mean weight was 57. 08 kg. Their exercise included running on a treadmill set while wearing a headset. Their blood samples were collected for analysis of ACTH and cortisol 5 min before and after the training. The amount of perceived pressure was recorded every three minutes using Burg scale. Anxiety rates were calculated based on Beack Anxiety Inventory (BAI) before and after the test. The time of exhaustion was also recorded at the end of the test. The results showed that ACTH level in the control and experimental groups were 23. 8 pg/ml and 29. 2 pg/ml، respectively. However، after the test، the rate changed significantly (p<0. 05) in control and test groups to 24. 9 and 20. 3 pg/ml، respectively. The cortisol concentration in the control and experimental groups before the test was 15. 5 and 14. 7 nmol، respectively. The cortisol reduced in the control and test groups to 17. 3 nmol and 13. 4 nmol، respectively. The time of exhaustion in the control and experiment groups increased to 593. 92 and 564. 25 sec.، respectively. The rating of perceived pressure in the experiment and control groups during our 4-step exercises was 12. 12 and 11. 97، respectively. In conclusion، hearing the voice of the Holly Quran can reduce ACTH and cortisol levels caused by anxiety and may also reduce the harmful effects of anxiety.