The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Premenstrual Syndrome in Adolescents

According to the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), laughter therapy, one of the interventions used in nursing care, appears as a universal approach. Laughter therapy is defined as facilitating the patient's perception, appreciation, and expression of what is funny, entertaining, or ridiculous in order to build relationships, reduce tension, release anger, facilitate learning, or cope with painful emotions. Laughter therapy, which is applied without using humor, generally includes exercises such as clapping, dancing, and vocalizing laughter-like sounds such as "hoho-hahaha", but it can also include non-laughter elements such as breathing and relaxation exercises. Laughter Yoga is a specific example of non-humorous laughter therapy; It includes yoga exercises such as laughing exercises, clapping, breathing and relaxation exercises. In studies conducted in the pediatric population, laughter yoga has been shown to improve stress, pain, self-esteem , anxiety, hopelessness. Has been found to provide positive improvements in depression and psychological resilience.

The menstrual cycle, which is one of the most important signs of the functioning of the reproductive system, is associated with signs and symptoms that cause physical and psychological problems. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) refers to a set of recurrent symptoms that begin at the end of the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (5-7 days before menstruation) and end in the follicular phase (2-4 days after menstruation). Many women cannot cope with symptoms such as emotional changes, irritability, lack of concentration, depressive mood or insomnia that occur during this period. For this reason, premenstrual symptoms can negatively affect adolescents' participation in classes, school success, social activities and family relationships. In addition to pharmacological agents, non-pharmacological methods such as reflexology, acupuncture, acupressure, cognitive-behavioral approaches and massage therapy have been used in recent years to cope with premenstrual syndrome.

PMS is an important health problem that includes complex symptoms and negatively affects women's quality of life. In order to cope with these symptoms, PMS needs to be addressed multidimensionally. This study aimed to investigate the effect of laughter therapy in coping with premenstrual syndrome.