Cohort study, 2010
Does stress before your period make menstrual symptoms worse?
Yes. Women with high stress in the month before their period had much worse menstrual symptoms, including both mood and physical symptoms.
What they did
259 healthy women with regular periods filled out stress surveys at the start and again during their cycle. They rated 17 menstrual symptoms as none, mild, moderate, or severe each week for 2 cycles. Researchers compared stress levels to symptom severity.
What they found
Women with the highest stress were 7.2 times more likely to report 8 or more moderate or severe symptoms and 2.5 times more likely to report 5 or more symptoms during the perimenstrual period. Stress was strongly linked to worse psychological and physical symptoms overall (p less than 0.0001).
What it means for you
High stress appears to make menstrual symptoms worse. Reducing stress could help ease symptoms. The study shows correlation, not that stress directly causes worse symptoms. Results adjusted for age, smoking, and body shape.
259
women studied
7.2
odds ratio for 8+ severe symptoms with high stress
2.5
odds ratio for 5+ severe symptoms with high stress
About the study
- Original title
- Perceived stress and severity of perimenstrual symptoms: the BioCycle Study
- Authors
- Gollenberg AL, Hediger ML, Mumford SL et al.
- Journal
- Journal of women's health (2002)
- Year
- 2010
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 259
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2009.1717
Topics
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