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Original poster

Why do you think that we have periods?

61 replies

Mooshamoo · 21/02/2023 20:17

I was just talking about this with my mum yesterday. I'm 39, so I have had a good few periods at this stage. They have always been an inconvenience.

I was just thinking, why do we have them? Surely the body constantly building up bloody tissue every month, then expelling it every month, is not the most effective biological system.

The uterus lining builds up in expectation of a fertilised egg every month. Why.

Why does the body not just wait until there is a fertilised egg present and then thicken the uterine lining. Or keep it constantly thick?

It's just annoying.

Or if we have to have it the way it is, why do we have it every single month.

Lots of animals only have periods once a year.

It's such a strange design. I know I'm not the first and last to think this. What to do you all think about it?

OP posts:
AllOfThemWitches · 21/02/2023 20:19

I dunno but I agree that it's really annoying. Another question I was pondering earlier... why do we have an increased libido just before/during a period and even more bizarrely, during early pregnancy? That's the least useful time to have sex from a biological point of view.

donttellmehesalive · 21/02/2023 20:20

Doesn't it have to be nice and thick to welcome the fertilised egg? If it waited to see whether the egg was fertilised or not when it arrived, there wouldn't be time to make a thick comfy place for it to settle in.

Timeforachangeisitnot · 21/02/2023 20:22

I read that it’s to reduce the risk of disease transported by sperm. But it’s complex. For example, why do female dogs bleed when they ARE ready to conceive, while in our case it’s pretty much the opposite.
I have no clue, but have wondered about the same thing, and I am way past menopause. Periods are so intrusive in a woman’s life.

DoYouRememberTheInnMiranda · 21/02/2023 20:22

I feel like I remember reading at some point that it might be about being able to get rid of less than healthy embryos effectively - pregnancy and maternity is a bigger risk for humans than for most mammals, and so it's not worth doing it for a baby who won't survive long enough to reproduce anyway. So it's kind of an adaptation to how dangerous childbirth is, and how weak our babies have to be to be born through our pelvises adapted for upright walking.
Or something...
I am not a biologist, and this internet article might have been a load of rubbish.

stbrandonsboat · 21/02/2023 20:27

In the past, women wouldn't have had as many periods due to pregnancies and extended breastfeeding. They also started their periods when they were older than girls now, due to body weight and general health and nutrition.

SarahAndQuack · 21/02/2023 20:28

I am not a scientist so only speculating, but:

Does this have to do with the facts that 1) humans don't have litters/multiple births as norm, so for us the biological 'expenditure' for each birth is relatively great, and 2) humans struggle more with getting pregnant/birth than many animals?

I suspect that the biological effort it takes to grow a nice thick womb lining is pretty minimal - certainly minimal compared to the effort of getting well into a pregnancy and then miscarrying. So perhaps it makes sense in the context of the way human pregnancies evolved to work?

MissTerri · 21/02/2023 20:30

I would like to know.....why are they so prolonged and painful with a penchant for starting at the most inconvenient time, like on holiday for example!
Why not have them say once every 3 months, just two days of very light, pain free spotting.
Just enough to know that it's happened but not enough to have us climbing the walls.
Preferably between the age of say 20-35. No menopause etc, just no more spotting. Job done.

funnelfan · 21/02/2023 20:32

While our bodies are designed for us to have a period once every 28 days on average, in reality many of our ancestors spent a lot of their fertile years pregnant or breast-feeding. I bet that until women were able to control their fertility, it was mainly unmarried women or those who were unintentionally childless who had regular periods throughout their lives. For the rest it was an occasional event between pregnancies.

Scr3wed · 21/02/2023 20:32

I just got a coil fitted - no periods. I have enough issues to contend with, without that as well.

Newnamenewname109870 · 21/02/2023 20:36

I think it has to be every month as it’s actually quite hard to get pregnant (I can’t remember the stats but it’s actually quite low each month) and with miscarriage, infant death you’d lose a lot. Also they’re only so frequent as we’re much healthier now. It used to be common to have periods less regularly with poorer diets and harsher lives.

Botw1 · 21/02/2023 20:36

Because it's not a design and evolution doesn't care about convenience?

Evolution is all about the fuck it that'll do.

Luckydog7 · 21/02/2023 20:38

But evolution doesn't work on the most 'efficient' system. it only cares about surviving to pass on genes. Our body's 'design' if you want to call it that is the one that outlasted other variable for what ever reason, luck, environmental etc, while others died off.

If you look for them you can find the most ridiculous examples in nature of inefficiencies, the larengial nerve of the giraffe, our own apendix etc. Do you know that some humans are born without wisdom teeth? (im one of them) and with out an apendix? Without modern medicine to save lives wisdom teeth and appendixes may well have simply evolved out of the human race.

Sorry for my evolution rant!

flutterbyebaby · 21/02/2023 20:38

Karma for having a clitoris, btw just joking!!

Original poster
Mooshamoo · 21/02/2023 20:40

Luckydog7 · 21/02/2023 20:38

But evolution doesn't work on the most 'efficient' system. it only cares about surviving to pass on genes. Our body's 'design' if you want to call it that is the one that outlasted other variable for what ever reason, luck, environmental etc, while others died off.

If you look for them you can find the most ridiculous examples in nature of inefficiencies, the larengial nerve of the giraffe, our own apendix etc. Do you know that some humans are born without wisdom teeth? (im one of them) and with out an apendix? Without modern medicine to save lives wisdom teeth and appendixes may well have simply evolved out of the human race.

Sorry for my evolution rant!

I wish I was a man sometimes! It's so unfair they never have to go through the pain and discomfort that we do for a lot of our lives.

My last boyfriend told me that men never ever think about periods.

That because it doesn't happen to them, they never think about it.

OP posts:
Grizzledstrawberry · 21/02/2023 20:40

Scr3wed · 21/02/2023 20:32

I just got a coil fitted - no periods. I have enough issues to contend with, without that as well.

Lucky you! I had a coil for 5 years, didn't skip a single period 😂

Grizzledstrawberry · 21/02/2023 20:43

I dunno put its a pain in the arse, even the menopause doesn't give you any relief because that comes with a whole new bunch of symptoms 🙄

lljkk · 21/02/2023 20:44

In No contraception societies, a woman might only have 100 periods in her whole life. Us in modern societies who start menstruating young, we get like 400 periods in our lives. And these bring higher risk of hormone-related cancers (breast, ovarian & maybe cervical).

Humans aren't the only mammals who menstruate (!) A lot of other primates also menstruate. I did not know this. They even get menopause.

Why do you think that we have periods?
namechangeforthisbleep · 21/02/2023 20:44

Dunno but every time mine comes im like, fuck me as if that's been a month. Life goes so quickly when you realise how quick they come round 😂

JoanOgden · 21/02/2023 20:47

Why can't we reabsorb the old womb lining too? That seems so much more sensible.

TitoMojito · 21/02/2023 20:48

Something about Eve and the curse of blood.

No but in seriousness, who knows. Truly one of the worst design decisions. And if we are supposed to procreate, why do we have so many menstrual problems? Why can we get pregnant when we don’t want to but not get pregnant when we do want to? Terrible design. I want a refund.

Original poster
Mooshamoo · 21/02/2023 20:50

namechangeforthisbleep · 21/02/2023 20:44

Dunno but every time mine comes im like, fuck me as if that's been a month. Life goes so quickly when you realise how quick they come round 😂

Yeah I get surprised every time too.

I always start to feel a dull ache. I get surprised every time. I know I should expect it but I think cuz I hate my periods, I try to pretend they don't exist for the rest of the month, then I get surprised when it comes. Like "oh no not this again"

OP posts:
Original poster
Mooshamoo · 21/02/2023 20:51

I'm so sick of periods. They are hard work. And expensive. I'm always ruining my nice underwear.

OP posts:
Botw1 · 21/02/2023 20:51

You can take steps to stop them if you hate them that much.

SpringIsSpringing23 · 21/02/2023 20:53

I'd like to know why animals like dogs have to wait to be on their period to get pregnant but humans it's the other way around. Not that I'd want to have sex on my period.

Original poster
Mooshamoo · 21/02/2023 20:53

Botw1 · 21/02/2023 20:51

You can take steps to stop them if you hate them that much.

How? I was advised by my doctor that I should not take the pill, as I over 35, and high risk for side effects.

OP posts: