If you are between 10 and 17 years old, you’ve probably noticed some important physical changes, but don’t worry! You are experiencing puberty, the period of life during which child’s body develops gradually until it assumes the forms of the adult one.
Why is this happening? Because our body produces special substances called hormones, which are responsible for the major changes that the body lives in this period.
If you are a male at puberty, your testosterone level is increasing from ten to twenty times. If you’re a girl, however, is gradually increasing your estrogen and progestogen production, until 8 – 10 fold then during childhood.
In this age, significant physical changes occurs:
In the boys we can observe:
- An increase in size of penis and testicles;
- a rapid increase in stature;
- a deepening of voice;
- growth of facial, underarm, pubic and chest hair;
- an increase in muscle mass and physical strength;
- the ejaculatory ability (also with spontaneous emission of semen from the penis);
In the girls we can observe:
- an increase in volume of uterus, vulva and vagina;
- the appearance of the first menstruation (menarche);
- an increase in stature;
- growth of underarm and pubic hair;
- an increase in the volume of breasts;
- changed distribution in weight and fat; more subcutaneous fat and fat deposits, mainly around the buttocks, thighs, and hips;
After puberty, boys and girls become potentially able to reproduction, because changes in the body are associated with the maturation of internal reproductive organs and it activates important processes related to reproductive capabilities (ovulation and menstruation in girls and spermatogenesis in boys).
WHO – Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR)
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/en/