Survey study, 2025
Does physical activity help reduce PMS symptoms?
Yes, there was a clear link between more exercise and less severe PMS symptoms. The improvement came both from exercise itself and partly from exercise reducing anxiety.
What they did
A cross-sectional survey of 145 female university students in Iran measured how much physical activity they did, their anxiety levels, and their PMS symptoms. The researchers looked at how these factors related to each other.
What they found
Women who were more physically active had less severe PMS symptoms. Women with lower anxiety also had less severe PMS symptoms. Physical activity was linked to reduced anxiety. Anxiety partly explained how physical activity helps PMS symptoms, meaning some of exercise's benefit came through reducing anxiety.
What it means for you
Exercise might help reduce PMS symptoms in two ways: directly and by helping women feel less anxious. The study only measured things at one point in time rather than tracking women over weeks or months, so it cannot prove that exercise causes the improvement.
145
female students surveyed
About the study
- Original title
- The Mediating Role of Anxiety in the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Premenstrual Syndrome in Female Students
- Authors
- Pardis Rahimi, Hassan Abdi, Malake Nasery Fadafan
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 145
- What was tested
- None; this was observational study
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.61838/kman.jayps.4393
Topics
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