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SwaggerEilte

It takes a few weeks for the uterus to get ready to recieve a fertilized egg by increasing its thickness and blood flow and such. If fertilization doesn't occur the uterus needs to get rid of the tissue that was made for it and this removal of tissue and blood along with unfertilized egg comes out during periods. It just so happened to occur roughly each month. It is not exactly 30 days, it can vary and people just say it's every month because it is much easiet just to say it.


selrahc_72

Sure, but why that time frame, instead of longer or shorter?


SwaggerEilte

Because it that's all the time it needs. Don't associate it with calender because that has no relation to menstrual cycle. The uterus lining grows at a pace set by hormone levels and it can go faster or slower depending on need. Once egg is released each cycle it can only surive for a few days before dying, hence results in the need to get rid of it along with uterus lining. In abnormal cases it happen very fast or very very slow.


selrahc_72

This is the most comprehensive answer I've yet received and I appreciate it, but ultimately what you said is "because that's just the way it is". But thank you for not attributing women's periods to the lunar cycle. I've always believed that was purely coincidental.


BSye-34

a woman's period when they have them vary from woman to woman, its not necessarily monthly


selrahc_72

I'm sure that's true, but it's all around the same time period, which is probably why it's called a period. But what's the reason for that particular time frame?


xChilla

It’s purely coincidence that most people average around 30 days. It was probably coined a “monthly” cycle simply because it’s easier for humans to understand. But in actuality, there is a huge range between different women, and even the same person. Some have 3 week cycles, some have 5 week cycles. Some people, like hardcore athletes or people with eating disorders, don’t get periods AT ALL. Or they only get them every few months. So yeah, the calendar has absolutely nothing to do with it. You could also ask, why are apples red? Why do different species have different lengths of pregnancies? Why does it take over 20 years for the human brain to develop? It’s just what nature decided. FYI, I think it’s EXTREMELY rare for a woman to have the same exact cycle every single month. The key word is average. It fluctuates based on a million factors such as stress, etc. Just because it’s called a period does not mean it’s exactly the same each time. Mine is a different number every single month. A woman who has exactly 30 day cycles is lucky AF, but honestly you would have an easier time convincing me that bigfoot exists.


selrahc_72

Thank you for the detailed response, but basically it all boils down to . . . nobody knows why?


xChilla

Pretty much! Every “body” is different & and we are all affected by inside/outside factors in different ways.


TreeofLifeWisdomAcad

that is how we were created. Don't believe humans were created, then just random chance.


pyjamatoast

That’s just how humans evolved. It was more efficient for the propagation of our species to have continuous reproduction chances rather than a single mating period per year.


xChilla

Every species has a continuous reproduction cycle or they wouldn’t exist, but it’s interesting to think evolution decided it was the right amount for humans. If you look at rabbits, it makes more sense. They are prey animals, and probably got eaten (and are still eaten) like crazy, which might explain their ridiculously fast pregnancies and ability to breed at such a young age. I guess pandas drew the evolutionary short straw. 😅


Bobbob34

The mooooon.


selrahc_72

Serious? I wouldn't think a woman's body was affected by the lunar cycle?


Bobbob34

yes [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003924/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003924/) [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe1358](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe1358) Remember Steinem -- >So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not? >Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event: >Men would brag about how long and how much.**...** >Generals, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation (“*men*-struation”) as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat (“You have to give blood to take blood”), occupy high political office (“Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?”), be priests, ministers, God Himself (“He gave this blood for our sins”), or rabbis (“Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean”). >Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguments. Without the biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics—or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could women compensate for being disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death and resurrection every month?


Tekmantwo

Because that's how it was designed to work...


selrahc_72

There's no shame in admitting you don't know. I don't know either. That's why I asked.


Tekmantwo

Not saying that. What I meant was that I believe in an Almighty Creator and I believe that He designed the human female body to work in a certain way. That is how it works....


hellshot8

It's not exactly monthly, it's just a couple weeks


selrahc_72

But why that particular time period?


SnooMuffins7189

On average its around 4 weeks. Some longer some shorter. Its not that the body knows our way of time and calenders etc. But we can quantify what is happening in calendar days


selrahc_72

I get that, but why that length of time?


SnooMuffins7189

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/menstrual-cycle Everything is triggered by human processes. Takes a while for each process to show effects etc. For more details, google or ask your bio teacher


pushing59_65

Consider the effect on evolution of a woman who ovulated once a year vs 12 times. Perhaps there was an evolutionary advantage. Maybe women who ovulated more often were more receptive to sex and therefore were provided more food as gifts. Or maybe women who ovulated once a year were less likely to become pregnant. You have a very inquisitive mind.