Depression And Lack Of Sleep Can Make Haid Pain Worse

A woman has menstrual pain. (ANTARA/Pexels)

JAKARTA - intense menstrual pain often has an impact on a woman's mental mood and health. A new study provides surprising insights, depression has the potential to be the main trigger for severe menstrual pain, while sleep disorders can worsen the situation.

According to a report from Medical Daily published on Wednesday, about 15 percent of women experience severe dysmenore or menstrual pain. This condition usually appears before menstruation and will subside after a few days.

If menstrual pain occurs without any underlying medical disorder, this condition is referred to as primary dysmenore. The pain is often caused by high levels of prostaglandin, namely hormone-like compounds that trigger contraction of the uterus. On the other hand, secondary dysmenore is caused by certain medical conditions such as endometrosis or uterine fibroids.

Research published in the journal Briefings in Bioinformatics analyzed data from about 600,000 individuals in Europe and 8 thousand individuals in East Asia. The results show a significant relationship between depression and primary dysmenore in both populations.

Scientists also conducted genetic studies to identify the main genes and proteins that play a role in the interaction between depression and menstrual pain. The main researcher, Shuhe Liu of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, explained that this study provides evidence that depression tends to be the cause, not the result, of severe menstrual pain.

"We found no evidence that menstrual pain increases the risk of depression, but our results suggest depression may trigger menstrual pain," Liu explained.

This study also highlights sleep disorders, which often occur in people with depression, play an important role in exacerminating menstrual pain. Researchers have revealed that overcoming sleep problems can be an important step in dealing with these two conditions simultaneously.

"Our findings suggest sleep disorders can worsen the symptoms of menstrual pain. Therefore, handling sleep disorders has the potential to be an effective strategy in managing this condition," Liu added.

Quoting Antara, researchers recommend an increase in mental health screening for women who are experiencing a dysmenore. This step is expected to help provide more targeted care and reduce the stigma related to mental health.

"Depression and menstrual pain have a major impact on the quality of life of women around the world, but the relationship between the two is still not fully understood," said Dr. John Moraros, one of the researchers, to CNN.

He emphasized the importance of further research to explore this relationship more deeply.