The Effect of Vitex Castus Extract and Exercise Training on Psychological and Physical Symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome in Young Girls

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a psycho-neuroendocrine disorder in which biological, psychological, and social parameters are involved. Recently, regular and fun sports exercises and the use of some herbal medicines have been considered by researchers as the recommended treatment options for this syndrome. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of a selected period of exercise training and consumption of Vitex Agnus Castus extract on the psychological and physical symptoms of premenstrual syndrome in young girls.  This research was a quasi-experimental study conducted among female students living in Gachsaran Azad University dormitories. In this study, out of 75 female students with PMS who had the conditions to enter the study, 40 people were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups of 10 people, including:1) Aerobic Training, 2)Vitex extract consumption, 3)Aerobic Training+ Vitex, and 4) control. The training group performed 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks and 35 to 45 minutes each session at a maximum intensity of 55 to 65% of maximum heart rate. The Vitex group took 40 drops of Vitex Agnus Castus before breakfast with juice and six days before menstruation up to menstruation for two consecutive cycles. At the end of the eighth week, the PMS questionnaire was completed again by the subjects and the data analysis was performed in SPSS using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)at P≤0.05.  Eight weeks of aerobic training and consumption of Vitex extract had a significant effect on the psychological (P≤0.05) and physical (P≤0.05) symptoms of intervention groups compared to the control group (P≤0.05), but there was no significant difference between some intervention groups in terms of reducing physical symptoms(P≤0.05). Also, the effects of treatment in the Vitex+ Training group and the Vitex consumption group were higher than the Aerobic Training group (P≤0.05).  Regarding the fun nature of exercises and low cost and low side effects of Vitexextract, it is recommended that young girls use aerobic training and Vitexextractas as an alternative treatment to treat and reduce PMS symptoms.