Effect of Taking Soybean Supplement and Regular Aerobic Exercise in Water on Mental and Physical Symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome among Female Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of taking soybean supplement and regular aerobic exercise in water on mental and physical symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) among female students. This study was a single blind quasi-experimental trial that was conducted on female students living in dormitories of Shahroud University. In this study of 67 female students suffering from severe PMS that were eligible for inclusion, 40 persons voluntarily by completing a consent form were willing to work with us until the end of the study. After performing the pre-test and completing the questionnaire (PMS), subjects were divided into 4 groups: Aerobic training, taking soybean supplement, soybean supplement along with aerobic exercise and placebo. Aerobic exercises include activities in water for 8 weeks, with three sessions per week, and intensity of 55 to 65 percent of maximum heart rate. The supplement contains a capsule of 500 mg of soybean, taken once daily and the placebo contains starch, flour and oleaster powder that was similar to soybean capsule, taken once daily. At the end of eight weeks in the post-test stage, participants again completed the PMS questionnaire accurately. Given the normality of data, two-way ANOVA was performed to analyze the data using SPSS18 software. The results showed that aerobic training in water for eight weeks had a significantly effect on general, physical and mental PMS symptoms in training group. Moreover, taking soybean for eight weeks had a significant effect on general and mental symptoms in supplement group, but no significant effect was observed in physical symptoms. In addition, 8 weeks of taking soybean supplement along with aerobic exercise in the water reduce the symptoms, but this difference was not significant. According to the results of this research, Soybean supplement or aerobic exercise in water can be used to treat or reduce PMS symptoms.