Women Needed for PMS Trial in Oxford

13 March 2012, 05:00

With 20% of women suffering from PMS so badly if affects their work and family life, Oxford Brookes University has started a study to see how exercise can help ease the symptoms.

Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) can affect women in lots of different ways including physical symptoms like headaches, bloating, food cravings and joint pain while anxiety, tiredness and forgetfulness are some of the psychological effects.

The intention of the study is to show that a simple exercise programme can improve quality of life and increase feelings of well-being.

The university is looking for women aged 18-40 who have PMS to take part in the 4-month trial. They cannot be on any type of hormonal contraception and must exercise less than 1 hour per week.

There are also weekly appointments at the university during the study with £150 being given as financial compensation.

Sarah Hillier is the PHD student involved; "One of the things a lot of the science at the moment doesn't really understand is how PMS actually works and the mechanisms behind the symptoms itself. By looking at the hormone data we're hopefully going to understand more about the syndrome itself."

To take part email Sarah at shillier@brookes.ac.uk