Randomised trial, 2024
Do positive psychology and physical activity help PMS symptoms?
Yes. Both positive psychology and physical activity significantly reduced depression, anxiety, and stress in students with PMS, with benefits appearing about two months after the interventions.
What they did
Randomized controlled trial with 120 university students with PMS. Students were randomly assigned to four groups: positive psychology education (8 sessions), physical activity (8 weeks), both interventions, or no treatment. All students completed a depression, anxiety, and stress questionnaire before the intervention, immediately after, and two months later.
What they found
No significant differences appeared immediately after the interventions. However, at two months, students in all three intervention groups had significantly lower depression, anxiety, and stress scores than the control group. There were no significant differences between the positive psychology group and the physical activity group.
What it means for you
Both positive psychology education and aerobic activity can reduce depression, anxiety, and stress in students with PMS, but benefits take about two months to appear. This study was done in university students, so results may not apply to all women.
120
students
30
per group
8
weeks/sessions
About the study
- Original title
- The effects of positive psychology and physical activity on depression, anxiety, and stress among students with premenstrual syndrome: a single-blind, randomized controlled trial
- Authors
- Shavaisi F, Heydarpour S, Jalilian N et al.
- Journal
- BMC women's health
- Year
- 2024
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- Participants
- 30
- What was tested
- Either positive psychology education (8 sessions of 70-90 minutes each), aerobic physical activity (8 weeks), or both
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03333-3
Topics
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