Evaluation of the effects of weight loss on body components and depression levels in elite wrestlers and education of weight loss management

Wrestlers usually carry out weight loss before the competition. This sitiation may cause physiological changes in their body components and psychological depression levels. The sample of the study consisted of 35 volunteer athletes in the women's wrestling national team camp. Body components of athletes were measured by bioelectric impedance analyzer. Moreover, in addition to demographic variables, Beck depression inventory was used to determine the depression levels of the women wrestlers. In the analysis of the data obtained, Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the two groups and Kruskal Wallis H test was used to compare the more than two groups. In the multiple comparisons, Pairwise Multiple Comparison Test was used to determine the difference between the more than two groups. According to the research findings, 20% of the athletes in the wrestling national team camp lost body weight while 80% did not lose their body weight. When the body composition of the wrestlers who perform weight loss and do not lose weight was compared, it was determined that there was no difference between total body water, fat mass, free-fat mass and basal metabolic rate (p> 0.05), however, there was a difference between depression scores. In addition, according to the weight loss classification of Casa et al. (2000), there was no difference between the total body water, fat mass, free-fat mass and basal metabolic rate of the wrestlers, whereas there was a difference between depression scores. According to this result, it was found that there was a difference between depression scores of wrestlers who performed well hydrated and serious dehydration. As a result, it was determined that body components were not significantly degraded and weight loss of > 5% caused depression in wrestlers when performing body weight losses of female elite wrestlers. According to this result, it is thought that wrestlers' body weight losses can be minimized or lengthening of the weight loss durations may cause them to lose their physiological and psychological performance.