Study on impact of yoga on symptoms, biomarkers, heart rate variability and cognition among female students with premenstrual syndrome

Not yet recruiting

Conditions: Premenstrual tension syndrome,

Registration Number: CTRI/2025/04/085497

Lead Sponsor: Dr Kashinath G Metri

Brief Summary: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a complex disorder characterized by periodic and recurring physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral symptoms experienced by some females during their reproductive age. PMS significantly impairs quality of life, affecting personal relationships, academic performance, and professional efficiency, thereby highlighting its multifaceted burden on patients’ overall well-being. Evidence shows that yoga has numerous health benefits on female reproductive health, by facilitating hormonal regulation, improving blood circulation. Yoga increases vagal tone and thereby reducing stress, enhancing mood, cognitive function and emotional-mental health. Previous studies on the effects of yoga in managing premenstrual syndrome (PMS) have primarily focused on subjective assessments, such as symptom severity, quality of life, and related variables like pain. However, no research to date has incorporated objective measures, such as biomarkers, and heart rate variability which could enhance the robustness and reliability of the findings. In this study, we propose to evaluate the impact of a newly developed and validated yoga module specifically tailored to the four phases of the menstrual cycle (Menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal phase). This module is designed to align with the natural hormonal dynamics and includes practices such as loosening exercises, yoga postures, bandhas, mudras, breathing techniques, relaxation, and meditation and assess its impact on progesterone and serotonin, heart rate variability, cognitive functions, symptoms of PMS, PMS related quality of life, mood states, pain, and quality of sleep. The intervention will be assessed among female university students experiencing PMS (as screened by "Premenstrual Syndrome Screening Tool") within the age range 18-30 years old. The experimental group will follow a 60 minutes module for 3 sessions per week 2 months. While, the control group will follow their usual routine. If successful, the study could position yoga as a low-cost, community-based intervention for managing premenstrual syndrome and its associated challenges, contributing to the growing field of mind-body research

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Not Yet Recruiting

Sex: Female

Target Recruitment: 48

Inclusion Criteria

Consenting female university students with PMS residing in the university hostels 2) Females within the age range 18-30 years 3) Must stay in university campus hostels.

Exclusion Criteria

Females diagnosed with other gynecological disorders, physical or mental disorders, and menstrual irregularities 2) Females undergoing any long term medications 3) Females who are overweight or obese 4) Females with history of addiction or substance abuse 5) Females who has been exposed to yoga practices in the past 6 months 6) Females recieving any other mind-body therapies.

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
1) Biomarkers: Progesterone and Serotonin	Baseline (0 week), post (after 8 weeks), and follow-up (after 12 weeks)
3) Symptoms of Premenstrual syndrome, Profiles of mood states, Premenstrual syndrome related quality of life	Baseline (0 week), post (after 8 weeks), and follow-up (after 12 weeks)
2) Cognitive functions: sustained attention, working memory, and executive function (inhibitory control)	Baseline (0 week), post (after 8 weeks), and follow-up (after 12 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
1) Cardiac autonomic function: Heart rate variability	2) Sleep quality

Trial Locations

Locations (1): Central University of Rajasthan
🇮🇳
Ajmer, RAJASTHAN, India
Central University of Rajasthan
🇮🇳Ajmer, RAJASTHAN, India
Dr Kashinath G Metri
Principal investigator
9035257626
kashinath@curaj.ac.in