---
title: Do women with worse PMS use more complementary and alternative medicine?
description: No clear relationship was found between PMS symptom severity and attitudes toward complementary medicine. However, women with PMS commonly use self-help metho
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-relationship-between-the-premenstrual-syndrome-experience-and-attitudes-2024/
---

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- Do women with worse PMS use more complementary and alternative medicine?

Survey study, 2024

# Do women with worse PMS use more complementary and alternative medicine?

No clear relationship was found between PMS symptom severity and attitudes toward complementary medicine. However, women with PMS commonly use self-help methods.

 Early or limited evidence

470 female health sciences students

## What they did

470 female health sciences students answered questionnaires about PMS symptoms and their attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine between March and June 2023.

## What they found

No clear relationship between PMS severity and attitudes toward complementary medicine. The most common self-help methods were sleep or rest (92.6%), hot drinks (85.7%), hot showers (84.9%), and abdominal massage (81.7%). Women with irregular periods, smokers, those not eating healthily, and those drinking too much coffee had more PMS symptoms.

## What it means for you

Many women with PMS use simple self-help methods like sleep, heat, and massage, even though they do not necessarily have stronger attitudes toward complementary medicine overall. Irregular periods, smoking, poor diet, and high coffee intake were linked with worse symptoms. This study measured women once, so we cannot be sure these factors cause worse symptoms.

470

students surveyed

92.6%

used sleep or rest for symptoms

85.7%

used hot drinks for symptoms

## About the study

Original title THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME EXPERIENCE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE OF HEALTH SCIENCES FACULTY STUDENTS Authors Didem Kaya, Zeliha Kaya Erten Journal Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi Year 2024 Study design Survey study Participants 470 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.34108/eujhs.1385963](https://doi.org/10.34108/eujhs.1385963)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)[Stigma, attitudes and culture](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-stigma-culture/)

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