University
of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center,
Debrecen, Hungary.
Ramachandran
Meenakshisundaram
Senior
resident and research scholar in Internal
Medicine, Madras Medical College, Chennai,
India
Ponniah
Thirumalaikolundusubramanian
Emeritus
Professor in Internal Medicine, The Tamil Nadu
Dr.M.G.R Medical University, Chennai,
India
Background:
Studies on yawning during
menstrual cycle are lacking.
Objectives:
To find out the frequency
of yawning among adolescent girls during
menstrual cycle and to correlate with the
various symptoms during
menstruation.
Material and
Methods:
Adolescent girls were
enlightened about the study and informed consent
was obtained for their participation. They were
asked to note down the frequency of Yawning in a
structured proforma during the period of
menstruation (from the first day to last day).
Again they were asked to record the frequency of
yawning 4 days after the last menstrual day for
three consecutive days. The average episodes of
yawning during menstrual period and
pre-ovulatory period per day were calculated for
each subject and compared with each
other.
Results:
Out of the 200 girls (age
range 18 to 22 and median age 19 years)
addressed, 188 agreed to participate in the
study. Out of them, the proforma was completed
on all the aspects in 150 only. Thus, the
response rate was 79.8%. The frequency of
yawning was significantly (P<0.01) more among
girls during the period menstruation when
compared to pre- ovulatory phase, and more so
among those who had heavy bleeding, tiredness
and a sense of sleepiness.
Comments:
Increased frequency of
yawning during the period of menstruation among
adolescent girls may likely to be related to the
neurohormonal mechanisms involved both in
yawning and menstrual cycle. However, further
studies are warranted to confirm or refuse the
observation/hypothesis.
