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It might be worth noting that periods are far more regular now, for most women, than they were in the past - this is thought to be because of dietary improvements.
A more likely scenario is that women's periods are more regular now because of several factors:
1) women in the developed countries get their periods earlier than they used to (this is possibly because of higher caloric and fat intake).
2) women have their first parturition later than they used to, but most significantly,
3) women tend to have fewer children than they used to and breastfeed a shorter time if at all, and pregnancy and breastfeeding interrupt the cycle.
The average lifetime fertility of a woman under pre-modern circumstances is 5 live births. If each of these requires 9 months of pregnancy and 2-3 years of breastfeeding, and she was in menses from age 15 to age 50, that's a shockingly sparse 15 years of menstruation. Which, being a woman of the modern world, I will have attained by age 27 (in two years). With the attendant increased cancer risks that go with these 'advancements.'
All in all, it is extremely unnnatural, from the evolutionary perspective, for a woman to have decades of regular, uninterrupted menses. To be 25 and have had more months of my life with bleeding than without is really quite an odd thought. |
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