Menstruation is an essential part of a woman’s life. An average American woman experiences approximately 450 menstrual cycles in her lifetime, from the start of her first cycle until menopause. Adding this up, it is estimated that an average woman will menstruate for around ten years – or about 3,500 days of her life. If this number is translated into period products, the average woman will use nearly 11,000 tampons in her lifetime. Of course, everyone’s cycle is different, and everything from childbirth to breastfeeding to culture can affect the number of periods a woman receives over her lifetime. One thing is sure; however – periods affect us all. Your first period may bring joy, fear, or concern. A girl’s period signifies a transition to womanhood – a time when she will appreciate the support of family and friends. Generally, women start their periods at younger and younger ages. Historically, the typical age for starting menstruation was 16, but nowadays, it is 12 years old. It is not uncommon for girls as young as eight to enter puberty. It is believed that this is due to several factors, such as better general health and diet. Stress, being overweight, climate, and other factors, such as being overweight, can also contribute to puberty starting at a young age. During your time in the womb, you develop all the eggs you will ever need – and that’s even before you are born! Each month, one of these eggs matures and is released as you reach puberty, and your menstrual cycle begins. As your biological clock ticks, all your extra eggs gradually die off. This is why you cannot have any more children once you reach menopause.
For women, the ability to bring forth new life is also accompanied by the pain of periods. Women must suffer menstrual pain every month of their fertile lives, while men only have to undergo circumcision once in their lives. We go through painful and moody days every month, trying to appear normal to others. Honestly, we should all be awarded a medal of honour for going through all that suffering during our periods. Even more so when you consider the unexplained crying sprees, strange cravings for food, and general bloating that comes with PMS. There is no way to escape this torture, so let’s enjoy it by looking at these hilariously accurate memes. As you see these at first, you’ll laugh and then cry as you remember the torture, which will quickly come back to haunt you.
