The area of Post-Exercise recovery has gained a lot of attention in recent years, especially in applied sport settings. An athlete spends more time recovering than they do training, thus recovery is something that athletes can use to benefit them. Post-exercise recovery can incorporate both psychological (e.g., perceptions of emotions, feelings) and physiological factors (e.g., hormones, heart rate, muscular). As such the aim of this thesis was to investigate post-exercise recovery from an interdisciplinary perspective by considering the role of psychology and its effect on post-exercise recovery through both perceptual and hormonal markers. Specifically, this thesis examined the influence of personality (namely Optimism and Alexithymia) on post-exercise recovery in a range of settings (laboratory, longitudinally & around a race). Currently, the post-exercise recovery literature assuages a “one size fits all” approach and has yet to explore how individual differences in personality influence the nature of recovery, thus understanding the role personality plays in recovery has clear theoretical and applied implications. This thesis presents three empirical studies across three chapters. The empirical chapters are prefaced by a general introduction and are brought together at the end of the thesis in the general discussion. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 2) investigated the independent effects of Alexithymia and Optimism on post-exercise recovery in an acute laboratory setting; between and after two bouts of treadmill running exercise. Post-exercise recovery was measured via questionnaire and salivary analysis of cortisol and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Alexithymia predicted better post-exercise recovery between exercise bouts and after the second exercise bout, , but poorer recovery following the second bout. Optimism failed to predict recovery either between bouts or following the second bout of exercise. These findings highlight potentially differential effects of alexithymia in different aspects of the recovery process.
The second empirical chapter (Chapter 3) investigated the personality-recovery relationship over a three-month training period amongst a sporting population. Post-exercise recovery was assessed perceptually by questionnaire and hormonally by hair cortisol, that measured the accumulation of cortisol in a three-month period. Unexpectedly no relationships were seen between either Alexithymia or Optimism and hair cortisol concentrations for the three-month period. However, Alexithymia had a negative relationship with average perceived recovery from training over the period. Furthermore, higher levels of alexithymia were associated with higher perceptions of stress and poorer well-being. Optimism had a positive relationship with average training hours and perceived well-being and a negative relationship with perceived stress over three three-months. The findings of this chapter indicate that despite personality being associated with relevant psychological indicators associated with post-exercise recovery, these relationships are not reflected hormonally in the chronic stress biomarker hair cortisol.The final study (Chapter 4) examined the influence of alexithymia and optimism on perceptions of post-exercise recovery during a two-week build up to, and after, a cycling race, focusing on perceptions of recovery. There were no relationships observed between either Alexithymia or Optimism with perceptions of recovery in either the before or after the cycling race. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that personality certainly effects perceptual post-exercise recovery from exercise across a range but not all settings. The studies also demonstrate that personality has a relationship with physiological post-exercise recovery depending on the setting. These findings demonstrate that personality is worthy of further investigation within the post-exercise recovery domain.