Yoga Found to Treat Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PSM)

Does she make your life a nightmare on certain days of the month? Send her quickly to yoga classes, as researchers have come with the first scientific proof that the old discipline of yoga can ease the psychological and physical symptoms of pre-menstrual tension.

It seems that yoga can raise levels of an antidepressant-like hormone, allopregnanolone, usually decreased in chronic sufferers.

Still, most women's health specialists are skeptical about the new research refusing to believe that most women with pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) require just stretching and meditation to resolve these issues. "It is widely understood in India that yoga works, but we've never shown it. The fact that it appears to influence symptoms and also change levels of an important hormone is very significant." said lead researcher Dr Ratna Sharma, a physiologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

The research team enlisted over 40 women to practice yoga intensively, at least five times a week, for a period of a month. 50 % of the subjects displayed symptoms of PMS: psychological stress, depression, body aches and bloating in the week before a monthly period. Extensive questionnaires fulfilled before and after the course revealed that yoga significantly reduced PMS symptoms in 64 % of sufferers. "The women with the worst psychological symptoms benefited most," said Sharma.

The team also checked the subjects' hormone levels before the yoga course and discovered that PSM sufferers presented lower levels of allopregnanolone, a chemical linked to antidepression effects. After the trial, levels of allopregnolone had increased, especially in those subjects reporting relief in their PSM symptoms. "The yogic activity somehow stimulated a hormonal change which in turn relieved symptoms, but how it did this is not known," said Sharma.

"Relaxation and exercise were known to help depression, which is closely linked to PMS. If yoga is enough to help a particular person that's good, but I doubt it's enough for the majority of women with severe PMS," said Dr Sue Reddish, medical director of the Jean Hailes Medical Centre for Women in Melbourne.