Period pain is no joke. Those cramps can literally make you feel like you'll collapse any moment and while some women are still able to get through it, for others it's a nightmare. A new study has found that one way to reduce these cramps is to opt for a treadmill exercise. Researchers conducted a study on women for seven months to see how treadmill exercises could benefit them in terms of period pain.
Participants aged 18-43 were asked to opt for aerobic exercises on the treadmill post the end of their menstrual cycle. They were asked to exercise three times a week for four weeks of supervised exercise post which they were asked to continue the exercise at home for another 6 months. This group was compared to a control group to see the difference.
It was found that women who opted for the treadmill exercise reported feeling 6% less pain after 4 weeks and 22% less pain after 6 months. Plus, their quality of life also improved significantly. Not only were they more active but their daily functioning conditions also improved. However, there was no improvement in the quality of sleep.
"Women who have painful periods often take steps to actively avoid exercise - after all when you are in pain it is often the last thing that you want to partake in. However, this trial demonstrated that exercise significantly reduced pain for those people taking part in the programme and they also reported reduced pain levels after four and seven months," said an expert.
Well, this goes to prove that exercise can prove to be of great help in reducing period pain. Plus, this reduced pain added with improved quality of life could also be considered as a 'package deal'. Stay tuned for more updates.
