Puberty-Hormonal control, source : wikimedia commons
When i was growing up as a child, at a point in my life i was confused about the changes in my body as well as the feelings I had. Though I was thought in school on the topic "puberty" . But the experience and changes kept me wondering and confused, at a point i had to meet my elder ones and explained to them what I was experiencing. They actually sat me down and explain the sequence of puberty to me both in boys and girls. After their explanation I then have a full understanding on my body changes as well as that of the girls.
Back then in school during my childhood days i had some friends (my age mates) who were as confused as i was. So one afternoon, we met during break time as usual. So i began to explain to them what my elder ones told me about the changes we were experiencing at puberty, in the end we all had a complete understand on puberty. So the worries about the changes we experienced in our body stopped.
This article is more like a reminder or should i say a guideline for us. We can pass the knowledge to our children, niece, nephews and siblings as well, as to enable them have a complete understanding about puberty. So let's begin..
What is puberty?
Puberty is simply the particular period your body metamorphose from childhood to adulthood. This changes happens gradually over a period of time. In a boy, the testes start producing sperm. In a girl, ovulation begin to mature, and menstruation occurs. But this sexual fact is tied in with many other changes, affecting almost every part of the body, as well as with the long period of psychological change, leading up to adulthood, that we call adolescence.
Generally, during puberty, both the boy and the girl may experience zits or pimples on their faces and bodies, sweat more, have body odor, hair growth under armpits and genitals (private hair) and arms and legs hair growth (public hair) , and sometimes growing pains in the arms and legs
Puberty in Boys
An average changes in boys usually start at about 11 and 1/2 or 12 and reach a peak between 13 and 14 and finish between 14 and 18 years .
The first puberty sign in boys is an increase in the size of the testicles. The increase of the testicles starts at the age of 11 and 1/2 years and stays up 6 months. After that, the penis increase in size followed by the development of pubic hair and private hair, deeper voice ,larynx grows, muscular increase and the final stage is the development of facial hair. The production of sperm usually occur close to the outset of puberty and is triggered by a sudden increase in testosterone .
About the same time, there is a sudden rapid gain in height, the shoulders broaden, and their is a sudden increase in strength.
Other particular changes of puberty include : increased oiliness and coarseness of the skin; at the same time, more generally, many other tissues of the body increase in size; blood pressure, blood volume, and the number of red blood corpuscles, all rise; the heart slows down; body temperature falls; breathing slows down, but the lungs' capabilities increase; and bones grow harder, and more brittle, and change in proportion.
Height, for example, usually gains another 2% after that. In other cases of course, puberty and growth may still be underway .
Puberty in girls
The beginning of puberty differs among people. Generally, puberty begins between the ages of 10 and 14 in girls and sometimes it begins earlier from the ages of 9 to 14 in some girls. While in boys puberty begins from the ages of 12 and 16
In recent times, due to the type of foods we eat and the influence of the environment, most adolescent girls attain puberty at earlier ages than in previous times.
In the old times, the normal age of the outset of menstrual periods
in girls is usually 15 but recently is around the age of 12 and 1/2 years.
The first sign of puberty in girls is the breast development which is also called breast buds. This happens between the ages of 11 and sometimes even 9 years of age. After that, hairs begin to grow in public parts and then private parts. Though some girls usually develop public hair even before breast development. Menstruation begins after the other changes had occurred let's say around 2 and 1/2 years. Once a girl starts having menstruation, ovulation activates.
Recent studies have shown that girls that begin menstruation after the age of 13 will have lower regular ovulation in the next 4 and 1/2 years to come because of the time the menstruation began.
The Hormones Involved
The changes of puberty are produced by "hormones" , chemicals manufactured in certain organs of the body called "glands". Hormones travel round the body in the bloodstream and affect how cells in other parts of the body work and develop. The signal to produce the hormones of puberty comes from the hypothalamus, a part of the brain. The signal apparently has to wait until the hypothalamus has matured to a certain point. But when it appears, it acts on the pituitary, an important gland at the base of the brain and this begins to produce two hormones called FSH and LH. (Their full names refer to their role in the female body, where they are also the trigger hormones of puberty though more LH is produced in men).
The two hormones act, in a boy, on the testes. After about a year, while their level builds up, LH stimulation results in the testes producing testosterone, the main masculinizing hormone of puberty. Testosterone makes the penis grow, public hair develop, and so on. Meanwhile FSH stimulates the testes to to start sperm. To keep a limit on the level of sexual activity, both LH and FSH are under what is called "negative feedback control ". That is, the effects they have hinder their own production, so their level falls, until their very absence creates the conditions in which they can reappear. For example, LH stimulates testosterone production, which reacts back on the hypothalamus. As are result, the hypothalamus sends out a message cutting back LH production. As LH is then no longer stimulating testosterone production, the testosterone level falls, allowing LH to start to be made again. ( With FSH, the control mechanism is probably not the testosterone level).
Influences on Timing
The particular timing of the outset of puberty is yet to be thoroughly comprehended, though it could be decided probably by a weight or body composition, or perhaps the increase of childhood obesity. As resent studies have shown that these factors are related to early outset of puberty.
In this millennia, puberty in the western world has been starting younger and younger. No one is quite sure why, though it may be due to rising living standards. But, between different children, the age of puberty varies with inherited family traits, nutrition level, general living conditions, and physical and psychological state ( mental disturbance and long childhood illness can each delay puberty). It also varies with samatotype. Children who will be mesomorphs as adults tend to have puberty early; those who will be ectomorphs have puberty late; while those who will be endomorphs seem perhaps to start early but finish late. All these are more important than any effect, if there is one of race or climate. However, the rate of puberty does vary with the season of the year. Growth in height is usually fastest in spring, growth in weight in autumn. In fact, this is true for all ages not just adolescence.
Feelings Attached to Puberty
There are hormones that controls puberty and it affect your body and feelings. Sometimes you go through mood swings, you have sexual thoughts and urges, sexual excitement like being horny, you feel attracted to males, females or the both of them, and sometimes some people even masturbate to kill the sexual sensation or wait for the feelings to die off.
The feelings attached to puberty can be difficult to understand, sometimes you feel you can't control your emotions, sometimes you feel happy and sometimes you feel sad.
It is not idea to go through it alone, talk to your mum,dad,teacher,brothers,sisters or even aunty tell them about your experience. I guarantee you find solace. You can engage in different activities like; writing, swimming, music and art or even talking with friends. This you will find solace and be carefree.
Physical Problems in Puberty
Puberty can fail to occur, in rare cases, because of hormonal imbalance. Also certain disorders become more common after puberty, acute myeloid leukemia, bone cancer and seriously, short sightedness. But many of the so-called physical problems of puberty are really only psychologically significant. Very early or late development, skin troubles, and increased body odour, are all more embarrassments than anything else.
A common but temporary problem can be extreme fatigue, which is both physical and psychological in cause and effects.
Psychologically, it can be due to the great psychic changes going on at this time, which can result in anxiety, self-consciousness, and boredom with old pastimes and roles. Physically, it can be due to the effects of the hormones, or the growth spurt, or just too many late nights.
It is worth mentioning some normal physical events of puberty which can be misconstrued as abnormal. The thyroid gland often enlarges, but should go down again when puberty is completed. Fat may develop due to faulty appetite control in the brain ( not to glands or gluttony). It may disappear later, but it is best to begin the practice of diet control. Almost a third of boys develop a slight swelling beneath the breast nipple. This disappears within one to one and half years.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the knowledge of puberty must be shared to our kids, niece, nephews as to foster solace in them.
A lot of them are passing through emotional trauma as it relates to the changes they are experiencing.
We must tell them as to avoid them becoming victim of the circumstance.
Thank you for reading!
Reference
[1] Puberty- Wikipedia
[2] Puberty in females and males
[3] Puberty stages for boys and girls
[4] Puberty
[5] All about puberty
[ 6] Changes in puberty -family planning
[7 ] Puberty stages and signs for boys and girls
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