Sorry if it’s a stupid question. I’m a boy and I’ve never rlly understood what it is and like exactly what happens. I’m 13 btw if that matters.
In: Biology
Women are only born with a certain amount of egg cells. Unlike males, female bodies have to “ration” their reproductive capabilities. Unfortunately for women, it’s fully automatic and rather gruesome.
Roughly once a month an ovary will release an egg to the uterus and the uterus will prepare to potentially hold a fertilized egg as it grows into a baby. If the egg is fertilized (technically this usually happens on the *way* to the uterus and not in it, but for the purpose of this explanation…) it will stick in the uterus until the baby is born. If it is not, it will wait a while and then, as the body realizes it is not pregnant, it will shed the egg and all the extra “stuff” that was put in place to prepare for pregnancy.
This is all controlled via hormones – some hormones are necessary for a healthy pregnancy and some will “signal” the body if pregnancy occurs – this is why women don’t have periods while they are pregnant. If there is no signal, then the shedding of the uterine lining occurs. *Edit: This is how most forms of birth control, like the pill and the implant work, they basically trick the body into thinking it’s pregnant using this hormonal signal. If a woman is already pregnant, their body won’t allow them to become pregnant again. Some women also experience reduced or even no periods on hormonal birth control*
Hormones control a lot of things, and can have an impact on emotion. This is why some women have emotional changes at different times in their menstrual cycle. Also, the menstrual cycle is continuous, not just for one week each month. The hormonal changes and signals are constantly changing on a approximately monthly cycle. A period is just one part of this continuous cycle.
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