Survey study, 2020
Do sleep and emotion regulation explain why depression is linked to worse premenstrual symptoms?
Yes, both poor sleep and difficulty regulating emotions partly explain why women with depression also experience more severe premenstrual symptoms. These factors appear to mediate the connection between mood problems and menstrual cycle symptoms.
What they did
Cross-sectional study of 265 women aged 18 to 25. They reported on depressive symptoms, sleep quality, emotion regulation difficulties, and premenstrual symptoms experienced over the past month. Researchers analyzed whether poor sleep and poor emotion regulation explained the connection between depression and premenstrual symptoms.
What they found
Women with greater depressive symptoms reported more severe premenstrual symptoms. Both poor sleep and ineffective emotion regulation were found to partly explain this relationship. Poor sleep may enhance premenstrual symptoms through its effects on physical and emotional functioning, while poor emotion regulation may worsen how women perceive or experience somatic and mood symptoms during the premenstrual period.
What it means for you
If you have depression and worse premenstrual symptoms, improving sleep and emotional coping skills might help reduce symptoms. However, this study measured everything at one time point in a limited sample of young, non-treatment-seeking women, so findings need to be confirmed with larger groups, more diverse ages, and forward-looking studies.
265
women in study
18-25
age range
1 month
period of symptom recall
About the study
- Original title
- Poor sleep and emotion dysregulation mediate the association between depressive and premenstrual symptoms in young adult women
- Authors
- Meers JM, Bower JL, Alfano CA
- Journal
- Archives of women's mental health
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 265
- What was tested
- None; observational study of associations between depression and menstrual symptoms
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s00737-019-00984-2
Topics
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