Why do most women get their first period around age 12 when their bodies are usually not well developed enough to safely carry a baby to term?

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Why do most women get their first period around age 12 when their bodies are usually not well developed enough to safely carry a baby to term?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I got mine at 13. I’ve heard modern diets- both from the perspective that we have better nutrition that allows this to happen, and negative impacts that affect hormones have bumped this age lower in recent history. The average kid is also now swimming in a sea of endocrine-disrupting exposures in their daily life from plastics and synthetic fragrances and other compounds.

All that said, there are breast changes that happen with each menstrual cycle (growth of ducts and the actual tissues that make milk), that prepare the woman to breastfeed said baby some day in the future also. I would guess that the short answer is evolutionary compromise. Perhaps from an evolutionary perspective, it’s better to begin ovulating and prepare the body, even if it runs the risk for the occasional bad outcome.

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