Health support for working women-Neuro-endocrinological and psychological factors associated with premenstrual syndrome.

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Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) presents an array of predictable physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms occurring cyclically during the late luteal phase and abating shortly after the onset of menses. Despite its near omnipresence in reproductive-age women, we do not yet understand the etiopathogenesis of PMS. This study looked at the extent to which and the manner in which the menstrual cyclicity of autonomic nervous system activity-a vital player in orchestrating biological homeostasis in the human body-is associated with PMS. We also evaluated ovarian and salivary stress hormone (cortisol and chromogranin A) and personality traits as possible agents affecting susceptibility to PMS. We further scrutinized the interrelationship between autonomic nervous system activity and the complex web of biopsychosocial factors relating to PMS.Women in their 20s and 40s with regular menstrual cycles participated in this study. We examined all subjects during the follicular and late lu … More teal phases, and measured autonomic nervous system activity by means of heart rate variability power spectral analysis during supine rest. We also administered the Y-G Test and the Alexithymin Scale to assess subjects' personality traits. The Menstrual Distress Questionnaire evaluated psychophysiological and behavioral symptoms of subjects' menstrual cycles.The present study indicates that parasympathetic nervous system activity decreased in the symptomatic late luteal phase compared to that in the follicular phase in women who experienced a substantial increase (>20%) in diverse, but not unbearable, psychosomatic symptoms premenstrually.Additionally, physiological function in both branches of autonomic nervous system activity might be more depressed during the entire menstrual cycle when premenstrual symptoms become more severe as seen in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Although further interdisciplinary research is needed, this study also implies that specific psychosocial features hind in women with PMS or PMDD may induce more unfavorable mind-body interaction in the premenstrual phase. Less