Does aerobic exercise combined with dark chocolate reduce PMS symptoms in inactive women?

Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is widely experienced by women and presents with a variety of physical, psychological and behavioral signs that reduce the quality of life, especially in sedentary women whose hormonal changes are influenced by inactivity. Material & Methods: The study conducted was quasi-experimental and aimed at exploring the impact of eight weeks of aerobic training combined with the intake of dark chocolate on the PMS indices of women who were not physically active. For this purpose, 40 inactive women aged 30 to 45 years, who were registered in one of the gyms in the city of Mamasani, were chosen randomly and divided into four completely random groups (aerobic exercise, dark chocolate consumption, aerobic exercise with dark chocolate consumption, and control). All participants and the control group used the pre-test and post-test design. For the diagnosis of pre-menstrual symptoms, the Persian version of PSST was used as the data collection tool. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA to determine if the effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable were significant among the four groups. Results: The results revealed that the severity of PMS after eight weeks significantly decreased in aerobic exercise, and dark chocolate groups, and especially in the mixed group. However, the explanatory power of the mixed intervention was 53% of the variance of PMS severity, while aerobic exercise alone accounted for 24% (p = .030) and dark chocolate alone 23% (p = .035) of the changes. No side effects were reported during the study. Conclusion: These results indicate that the combination of aerobic exercise and dark chocolate consumption is a non-pharmaceutical and effective enhancer approach to PMS symptom reduction that can be useful for sedentary women. Finally, the results suggest that these interventions could be extended in the form of public health programs for women's health promotion.

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