“Meditation helps manage PMS in many ways. Meditation helps put PMS in perspective – that it’s a short-term problem and that most of the time, you feel good. It helps ease the guilt of difficult-to-control emotional outbursts – PMS is a medical condition! Meditation helps calm the erratic thought patterns and wild emotional fluctuations by putting the body and mind into a deeply relaxed state.” – Steven Johnson
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is very common in women during the childbearing years. Almost 85% of American women, between 20 years old and 40 years old, experience PMS and around 5% of these women are disabled by extremely severe symptoms. It is often accompanied with depression and called Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and can be dangerous as the suicide rate for patients with depression is much higher in the second half of the menstrual cycle.
PMS produces physical symptoms such as Joint or muscle pain, headache, fatigue, weight gain related to fluid retention, abdominal bloating, breast tenderness, acne flare-ups, and constipation or diarrhea. These symptoms are accompanied by a constellation of psychological symptoms such as tension or anxiety, depressed mood, crying spells, mood swings and irritability or anger, appetite changes and food cravings, trouble falling asleep (insomnia), social withdrawal, and poor concentration. Rather than improve with age, PMS can get worse as patients age and approach menopause.
For most women PMS is left untreated, with the women simply putting up with the misery. But for some drugs are prescribed such as antidepressants, NSAIDs, diuretics, and hormones. These are all accompanied by significant side effects. There is, therefore, a need to find safe and effective treatment for the torment of PMS. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve the physical and psychological state of women and men. It would seem reasonable to examine whether mindfulness training might be helpful with PMS.
In today’s Research News article “Relationships Among Premenstrual Symptom Reports, Menstrual Attitudes, and Mindfulness.” See:
or below or view the full text of the study at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4859870/
Lustyk and colleagues examined the relationships between mindfulness, premenstrual attitudes, and Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) symptoms in college age women, all of whom reported some level of PMS symptoms. They found that a number of aspects of mindfulness, including overall mindfulness and the observing, describing, and non-reacting facets of mindfulness were significantly negatively associated with overall and individual PMS symptoms, including pain, emotions, food cravings, and fluid retention. They found that the greater the levels of mindfulness the less the PMS symptom severity.
Lustyk and colleagues also measured the women’s attitudes regarding menstruation. They found that the greater degree the women perceived menstruation as a debilitating event and the better they were at predicting the onset of menstruation, the lower the PMS symptoms. They also found that mindfulness moderated these effects; the higher the levels of mindfulness the smaller the relationships between these attitudes with PMS symptoms.
These results are encouraging. They are however correlational. There was no manipulation of mindfulness or mindfulness training. So, it can’t be concluded that mindfulness caused improvements in PMS symptoms. It could be that low PMS symptoms improve mindfulness in women or that some other variable is related to both. It will take a manipulative research study to determine if there’s a causal relationship between mindfulness and PMS symptoms.
These cautions notwithstanding, mindfulness appears to be associated with lower PMS symptoms. This adds to the list of the beneficial effects of mindfulness to mental and physical health. It also suggests that mindfulness training may be a safe and effective alternative treatment for Premenstrual Syndrome in women.
So, decrease PMS with mindfulness.
“The incredible positive that I have gained by becoming aware of this connection is the awareness that has allowed me to work with my mind and body each month when these symptoms surface. I can now respond to my body’s needs without reacting from a highly activated, emotional place. It’s really made all of the difference. I now know what to expect and deal with myself more compassionately during this time of the month.” – Debbie
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Lustyk, M. K. B., Gerrish, W. G., Douglas, H., Bowen, S., & Marlatt, G. A. (2011). Relationships Among Premenstrual Symptom Reports, Menstrual Attitudes, and Mindfulness. Mindfulness, 2(1), 37–48. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-011-0041-x
Abstract
The physical and affective symptoms of a broad range of conditions are improved following mindfulness-based practices. One set of symptoms that has yet to be explored through the lens of mindfulness, however, is that associated with the premenstruum. Also, given the relationships among negative attitudes towards menstruation and amplified symptom reporting, it is reasonable to expect that mindfulness qualities cultivated through practices aimed at dispelling negative anticipatory and judgmental thinking will moderate these relationships. Thus, in this study we examined interrelationships among premenstrual symptom severity reports (PMSR), menstrual attitudes, and mindfulness qualities in a sample of 127 women (age range 18–26 years). Results revealed several statistically significant positive relationships between menstrual attitudes and PMSR. Also, higher scores on measures of mindfulness were significantly associated with lower PMSR. Moderating effects revealed that mindfulness significantly buffered the relationships between menstrual attitudes and PMSR, specifically between: anticipation of menses onset and PMSR as well as anticipation of menses onset and premenstrual water retention. These results may offer the first empirical evidence of relationships among menstrual attitudes, PMSR, and mindfulness qualities. Results from this study align with the body of research showing that mindfulness is predictive of improved symptomatology and well-being across varied conditions. We conclude with discussion supporting the development of a mindfulness-based intervention aimed at reducing symptom severity in premenstrual symptom sufferers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4859870/