Non-randomised trial, 2019
Does exercising before your period help with pain and anxiety?
Yes, exercising 30 minutes a day for 5 days before your period significantly reduced both pain and anxiety. This was a controlled trial but not fully randomized.
What they did
A controlled study of 360 women (235 did premenstrual gymnastics and 125 did not). Researchers measured pain and anxiety before and after 30 minutes of daily exercise for 5 days, timed 6 to 10 days before the period.
What they found
Women who did the gymnastics had significantly lower pain intensity and anxiety levels (p = 0.001 for both). The study also found that 80.6% of all participants had PMS symptoms.
What it means for you
Exercise timed before your period may help reduce pain and anxiety. The main limitation is that women in the exercise group might have had other differences from the control group, so we cannot be completely sure the exercise alone caused the improvement.
360
women studied
80.6%
had PMS symptoms
30 min, 5 days
exercise duration
About the study
- Original title
- Implementation of Premenstrual Gymnastics on Intensity of Pain dan Level of Anxiety
- Authors
- Sri Sumarni, Nur Khafidhoh, Umaroh
- Journal
- Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development
- Year
- 2019
- Study design
- Non-randomised trial
- Participants
- 360
- What was tested
- Premenstrual gymnastics for 30 minutes daily for 5 days, timed 6 to 10 days before menstruation
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.5958/0976-5506.2019.00583.7
Topics
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