Response of Immunoglobulin A and Salivary cortisol in Elementary Male Students to One, Two and Three Physical Activity Sessions

There is very little information about the impact of Sport activities and increasing physical education sessions during a week on the function of immunity system in children and teenagers. Therefore the current study was conducted to examine the impact of one, two and three physical education sessions in a week on the amount of IgA and Salivary cortisol in elementary male students.Twenty-four elementary male students (age: 10±5, weight: 36±6.4, height: 142±66) were randomly divided into 3 eight-member groups participating in one, two and three physical activity sessions in a week. Each session (futsal+ basketball) lasted for 45 to 50 minutes. Saliva samples were collected in three phases of before, immediately after and 24 hours after the physical activity to measure the amounts of Salivary IgA and cortisol using ELISA method. Friedman test (investigation of inter-group difference), Kruskal-Wallis test (investigation of intra-group differences) and Wilcoxon Test (investigation of the difference position) were used to analyze data in the significance level of (P < 0.05).The results of Friedman test showed that participating in one session (p= 0.222), two sessions (p= 0.223) and three sessions (p=0.076) physical activity in aweek doesn’t have a significant impact in the average IgA of the students in different stages of measurement. Also, participating in two (p=0.13) and three (p=0.88) sessions of physical activity in a week doesn’t have a significant impact on students’ Salivary cortisol in different stages of measurement. Participating in one session of physical activity in a week (p=0.01), however, has a significant impact on students’ Salivary cortisol. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test also revealed that there is no significant relationship between Immunoglobulin A and Salivary cortisol of studentsin response to one, two and three physical activity sessions in a week (P> 0.05).The research findings showed that one, two and three physical activity sessions can’t make have a significant impact on Immunoglobulin A and Salivary cortisol in students. So it seems increasing the physical education sessions in schools can rise the joy, freshness and the level on healthiness in students.