Study, 2024
How do lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and stress affect menstrual health and PMS?
Lifestyle factors significantly affect menstrual health and PMS. A balanced diet with adequate vitamins, regular exercise, good stress management, and healthy weight can reduce PMS symptoms, while poor nutrition, high stress, extreme weight, and substance use make them worse.
What they did
This review examined research on how diet, physical activity, stress, body weight, and substance use affect menstrual disorders including PMS and painful periods.
What they found
Diets low in magnesium, vitamin B6, and vitamin D are linked to worse PMS and painful periods. Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are linked to regular cycles. Regular physical activity reduces menstrual pain and promotes regularity. Excessive exercise can cause missed periods. Chronic stress raises cortisol and worsens PMS symptoms. Obesity is linked to excess estrogen and heavy bleeding; being underweight causes missed periods. High alcohol and caffeine increase PMS risk. Smoking worsens painful periods.
What it means for you
Making healthy lifestyle choices in nutrition, exercise, stress management, and weight management appears important for managing PMS and menstrual health. These factors work together. However, the interactions between lifestyle factors are complex, and more research is needed to fully understand them. This is based on review of existing research rather than one new study.
About the study
- Original title
- Influence of lifestyle factors on menstrual disorders
- Authors
- M.Ranga Priya, T. Gunasundari, R.Manivannan
- Journal
- Journal of Innovations in Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences
- Year
- 2024
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- None - this is a literature review of how lifestyle naturally affects menstrual health
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.56511/jipbs.2024.11303
Topics
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