Why do girls start menstruating when they are so young?

Question

Are we really meant to procreate at a younger age? I don't understand.

Answer 1

There are lots of different factors that play a role.  Hormones have a lot to do with it.  Some people just start puberty sooner than others.  Diet and exercise can also affect it.  Girls who are more active generally get their periods later.

There are other, less obvious reasons too.  Menstruation can be affected by the cycle of the moon, (the day I started there was a lunar eclipse).  And often, women who are close (friends, family members, co-workers) will get their periods at the same time.  I've also heard that girls who don't have fathers at home will get their periods sooner too, because they don't have any testosterone balancing out their estrogen.

Answer 2

Yes. That's how human biology seems to have it work out.

The only reason it seems too "young" is because your social and cultural perception of age and procreation is playing a part in how you see this.

Answer 3

Yes, we are. As a society we deem it fit to marry in our 20's 30's and 40's. But from a purely evolutionary standpoint, procreation is meant young so that we as a race could survive.

Answer 4

So young? The average age is 11-14, just like it always has been.  

Answer 5

Yes, we are starting to menstruate and develop at an earlier age. I would personally say that it's attributed to all the hormones they put in the food nowadays;

think about it....chicken b*****s weren't as huge 10-15 years ago as they are now, it's because of the growth hormones in the feed that they give to the livestock. I believe that because of these hormones, they do affect people and hence, making younger woman develop faster.  

Answer 6

Because of hormone treatments given to animals in our food supply.

Our agriculture industry routinely gives bovine growth hormone injections to cows to make them build muscle faster so they can be sent to slaughter sooner.  We eat the meat or drink the milk of these cows and we therefore consume the same hormone.  One of the effects this consumption is having on humans is earlier puberty.  There are now documented cases of girls as young as 8 and 9 years old at menarche.  



A return to organically produced foods will result in  puberty occurring at a more historically  "normal" age - about age 12-14.  It will take a human generation  (about 18-25 years) at minimum, for this to happen.

Answer 7

That's due to better medical care and nutrition. In the past, it was common for young women not to start their periods until they were about 16 or 17 years old. Then they were married off soon afterwards so there were no problems with teen pregnancy or having to be told to abstain until marriage.

Answer 8

The average age of menarche is 12.5 years in Western countries and by virtue of natural order young women are most fit to the alternate member of the species.  The highest rates of successful conception and the best odds of a uncomplicated gestation are in a young population.

This may not sound PC or may be otherwise unpretty to hear, but it's the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts, but nonetheless, it is the truth.  For that is what we strive for, i.e. the search for the truth.

Answer 9

When I was younger, my doctor told me she thought it was all of the hormones in our food. Milk, butter, eggs, cheese, meat, anything that comes from an animal. They put so many hormones in our food, now.

Also, ( a little off topic) I think that's why so many people are resistant to anti-biotics now. Those are in our food, too. They should do a study comparing girls eating all organic food and girls eating conventional food, and see what the difference in their development is.

I also think that they should start educating girls about this in school at an earlier age. When I was in elementary school, they didn't teach us about this until 4th grade, but some girls (like me) start/started before 4th grade. If my mom hadn't already told me about it, I would have been terrified. Education needs to be given at a younger age.

Answer 10

Women are capable of procreating at that age.

But it's the start of a development, that will make them good for procreation.

A little girl has such a week body that, even tough she's capable, it's too dangerous.

Girls develop faster than men, but it still takes years...imagine what would happen if girls started menstruating at 18 and ended at 19, with so much changes, that year would be VERY difficult, women would have to eat 3 times normal and they would still be skeletons.

So,  it's better to do it slowly starting at a young age{:

Answer 11

Yes, we are biologically designed to procreate young, male and female.  The arbitrary age of consent at 18 (in the US anyway) is a social construct, not a iological one.

The arguments that young people are emotionally/socially too immature for reproduction is because of how we have constructed our society, it has little to do with either biology or history for that matter.

Answer 12

I think girls body changes so much but just because  your body ready does not mean you minds there yet

when a  baby can walk, you will not open the door and let it out on it own,there got to be prepartion

Answer 13

I dont know..I started when i was 10..as did my sisters...( step sister started at 13.) but that is still to young.

And it is scary because basically when a girl starts menstruating that means she can get pregnant..

if a girl who is say that young got raped and got pregnant..it is scary to think of the consequences...

Im against abortion..but in that case..when a girl is that young i think it would be best to have one.  but more than likely since the girls body is not fully mature..she would most likely have a miscarraige.

I think when God was handing out periods...He shoulda waited till we were a good deal older..say like our 20s..when we are fully developed.

not when we are still knobby kneed and flat chested with no hips.