When girls come in for their physical exams, one of the questions I routinely ask is “Do you get your period?” I try to ask before I expect the answer to be yes, so that if a girl doesn’t seem to know about the changes of puberty that lie ahead, I can encourage her to talk about them with her mother, and offer to help answer questions. And I often point out that even those who have not yet embarked on puberty themselves are likely to have classmates who are going through these changes, so, again, it’s important to let kids know that their questions are welcome, and will be answered accurately.
Tag: puberty
Control of Fertility: New Player Identified
Individual small RNAs are responsible for controlling the expression of gonadoliberin or GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone), a neurohormone that controls sexual maturation, the appearance of puberty, and fertility in adults, new research shows. The involvement of microRNAs, transcribed from DNA, occurs around birth, and marks a key step in postnatal development.
Mother’s Smoking May Affect Girls’ Lifetime Reproductive Health
Girls whose mothers smoked while pregnant entered puberty at a younger age in a new Australian study. Since early menstruation is linked to higher risk of uterine, endometrial and breast cancers later in life, the researchers say that maternal smoking could set up daughters for health problems even before they’re born.
Out of a Struggle With Infertility, Success
“I said, ‘This is what’s wrong with me,’ ” Mr. Johnson recalled telling Ms. Perlman of his diagnosis of Kallmann syndrome, a hormonal disorder that caused delayed puberty and infertility. “When I was a teenager, I was on testosterone therapy, every day, 365 days a year. The doctor had told me at age 13: ‘You’re sterile. Forget about it.’ ”
What Causes Girls to Enter Puberty Early?
Record numbers of girls not yet old enough for middle school are starting puberty. Almost by definition, puberty arrives at an awkward age, but these are grade-school girls, thrown into a developmental gantlet before they are ready for the change.
Sound of Actual Ticking Clock Can Speed Up Women’s Attitudes on Reproductive Timing
The metaphor of a ticking clock is often used to refer to a woman’s growing urge – from puberty onwards to menopause – to conceive before her childbearing years are over. New research in Springer’s journal Human Nature shows that there’s more truth to this phrase than you might think. The subtle sound of a ticking clock can quite literally speed up a woman’s reproductive timing.
Boys Now Enter Puberty Younger, Study Suggests, But It’s Unclear Why
A large study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that boys are entering puberty earlier now than several decades ago — or at least earlier than the time frame doctors have historically used as a benchmark.
The study, widely considered the most reliable attempt to measure puberty in American boys, estimates that boys are showing signs of puberty six months to two years earlier than was reported in previous research, which historically taught that 11 ½ was the general age puberty began in boys. But experts cautioned that because previous studies were smaller or used different approaches, it is difficult to say how much earlier boys might be developing. Read full article.