The relationship among exercise, stress, and primary dysmenorrhea

Abstract

This study considers primary dysmenorrhea from a biopsychosocial perspective in examining the relationship between physical exercise and menstrual pain. Despite widespread claims of the benefits of exercise for perimenstrual symptoms, the evidence seems weak. Stronger evidence indicates that exercise helps relieve stress and elevates mood and that stress heightens menstrual discomfort. Student nurses (n = 176) completed a questionnaire disguised as a general health survey that contained these measures. The hierarchial regression analysis demonstrated that, contrary to the expected, regular exercise increased with the severity of menstrual symptoms, after controlling for medications, disposition, perceived stress, and mood. The findings suggest that exercise presents a tradeoff; it relieves the stress that may intensify dysmenorrhea, yet it may aggravate these same symptoms.

Effects of stretching exercises on primary dysmenorrhea in adolescent girls

“…In a few articles, no correlation between levels of physical activity and dysmenorrhea-related symptoms was found [14,16,19]. According to Metheny and Smith [23], after adjusting for depression and mood changes, dysmenorrhea, and that sportswoman who had participated in heavy physical activities had less symptomatic menstrual cycles [18]. Moreover, performing exercise reduced the intensity of pain, pain frequency, and the amount of analgesics medication.…”

“…There was significant dose-response and temporal associations between perceived stress in one menstrual cycle and the incidence of dysmenorrhea in the following cycle. There are several studies that have shown considerable correlation between tensional stress in life and premenstrual symptoms [23]. The role of exercise therapy as a tool for reducing stress and biochemical changes in the immune system was considered extensively as well [13].…”

“…Meanwhile, subjects were given 2 pre-test questionnaires and asked to answer the questionnaires after the first and second menstrual cycle, and to give information about the most severe pain according the visual analog scale (VAS) [23,26]. The questionnaire used the VAS scale to measure intensity of pain and some questions relating to consumption of analgesics and duration of menstrual pain, which was confirmed in their reliability and validity by the cooperation of 4 gynecologists.…”

“…In some published articles, no correlation was found between physical activity level and dysmenorrhea [14,16,19]. Moreover, after checking with depression and mood swings, they found that sport in some women induce higher levels of symptoms along with menstruation [23].…”

A narrative review of medical, chiropractic, and alternative health practices in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea

“…69 The benefits of exercise for the treatment of PD are hypothesized to be the result of stress release and mood elevation. 70 Women can also make daily changes to limit exposure to environmental toxic influences as mentioned previously.…”