Why do you think that we have periods?

[Mooshamoo]

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?

I’d be up for a just a text from Mother Nature every month just saying “Hiya, you aren’t preggo this month, have a good one!!”😂😂

I've pondered this myself. Would much prefer to lay an egg

Which would be upsetting if you are struggling to conceive but then so are periods.

It's all about 'survival of the fittest', so the system we have now, biologically, is the one that survived the test of time and worked best. And remember that modern humans, with all our health, nutrition and modern medicine, are living with many bodily adaptations that served our ancestors well in times gone by. It takes thousands of years for adaptations to spread widely among a population. We're living with what worked best for humans thousands of years ago. Ergo, we have 12 opportunities to become pregnant each year from the age of roughly 12-52 and many women wouldn't have reached that age because so many died in childbirth.

Because in women the embryo implantation rate is 20% for every cycle, whereas in other mammals it is far greater than that.

Also, as other posters pointed out, we are not design to have multiple litters like other animals.

Why does everything lead back to struggling to conceive. It’s only a bit of fun ffs.

Other animals have periods but 12 available breeding cycles in the year is one of the things that gave us a huge evolutionary advantage and allowed us to become a plague species.

To give us a break from sex.

You're right, it's so inefficient. I think I might find the Manager (definitely male) and write an official complaint. I want my money back too 😂😂

but these are not inefficiencies, just our ignorance in understanding them

The appendix, sure, but the giraffe's laryngeal nerve and our back to front retinas are definitely inefficiencies.

We're living with what worked best for humans thousands of years ago

And even then, 'best' is not 'best of all possible options'. It's 'best of an entirely random selection of options', fitting into a pile of millions of years of previous random sections, plus a hefty dose of accident.

Is it because humans are fertile all the year round whilst other animals "come into season" at certain times? Consequently, our bodies are always gearing up for a possible pregnancy.