الجمعة، 3 أغسطس 2012

The Menstruation Process: A Primer

What the body does during menstruation is actually a complicated and fascinating process. If it's unfamiliar to you, keep reading to learn how it works, and why next time you start cramping you should stop cursing mother nature and take your anger out on those darned prostaglandins.

The Menstruation Process Begins at Your Uterine Wall

For an egg that has been released and fertilized to implant and become a full-blown pregnancy, the egg has to have some place to hang on and start growing. This is the purpose of the monthly thickening of your uterine wall.

Once a month your body generates extra tissue to create a thicker uterine lining. If you release an egg that then gets fertilized, this lining is where the egg (or ovum) parks itself and starts the process of cell division that leads to a fetus and - so long as nothing interferes with the process - eventually a child, about ten months later.

Yes, that read ten months, not nine. Although nine months is the length most people use to refer to pregnancy, in fact the process that begins at fertilization usually lasts ten months for most women.

Bleeding and Cramping During Your Menstrual Cycle are Caused by Prostaglandins

What are prostaglandins? They are chemical compounds released during menstruation when the extra lining of your uterine wall realizes it won't be needed this month and decides to leave.

Anthropomorphism notwithstanding, menstruation is the result of your body receiving indications that no fertilized egg has been implanted this month. Healthy growth of the ovum requires a fresh uterine lining, so each month that you do not get pregnant, your body starts over.

OK, now we're to the part about prostaglandins. At the stage in the menstrual cycle when the uterine lining begins to break down, the lining itself produces molecular compounds that speed the process of clearing out the uterus along so that a fresh lining can start forming.

Prostaglandins perform this function by initiating muscles spasms in your uterus to help push the lining out. Those spasms are what you eventually feel as cramps, and the discarded lining is what leaves your body as period blood during menstruation. So next time you find yourself cramping, feel free to be a little more specific about your curses, and direct them to the prostaglandins, where they belong.

... And Every Month the Menstrual Cycle Starts Over Again

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. This will go on for most of the rest of your life. Each woman is born with a finite number of eggs. Each month you'll release one of those eggs and, unless it gets fertilized and successfully implanted, you'll go through the whole thing again in the continuing process known as menstruation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_T_Langley

ليست هناك تعليقات:

إرسال تعليق