Someone Asks What’s The Evolutionary Purpose Of Having Periods, And This Scientist Delivered An In-Depth Answer
Periods are mysterious stuff. Period. Let’s be honest, how many times have we asked ourselves “why?” and “what for?” only to briefly forget about it until the next round?
And luckily, the big question was asked out loud thanks to the people on Quora: “What is the evolutionary benefit or purpose of having periods?” It turns out, it wasn’t just another cry in the internet’s wilderness. Evolutionary biologist Suzanne Sadedin stepped in to handle the matter and gave the most illuminating answers ever. Her extraordinary tale of how women get periods just proves that science has all the answers, no matter how disturbing they may be!
Image credits: Suzanne Sadedin
Biologist, who has worked at Monash and Harvard Universities, was more than happy to handle the question
More scientists have backed up the fact that there’s no medical reason why women should have a period if they don’t want to. Judith Stephenson, the Margaret Pyke professor of sexual and reproductive health at University College London, told The Guardian that it’s “in some ways, one of God’s great design faults.” “It is not helpful to have these periods—in fact, if you don’t have them, one of the biggest benefits would be reducing iron deficiency anemia,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Anne Connolly, the clinical lead for women’s health for the Royal College of GPs, claims that there’s no health benefit to them. “Ninety-nine percent of women don’t need to bleed.” It may sound shocking for some who believe in the idea that bleeding is absolutely necessary to healthy women’s bodies. The Guardian attributes such a belief to the “decades of advice that women on the combined pill should take a break for one week a month.”
This is how people reacted to the scientist’s explanation
310Kviews
Share on FacebookWe need more of these scientific, thought provoking, detailed posts from which we actually learn something new.
Unfortunately, there will be naysayers to attempt to discredit science, therefore nothing has been learned.
Load More Replies...This is so well written and both entertaining and informative. Great post.
Hahaha yes fetuses are parasites for sure. I lovingly called my son a parasite throughout my whole pregnancy. He hijacked all of my emotions and heightened my sense of smell while making me drink a gallon of milk a day, I am slightly lactose intolerant. I needed the calcium apparently.
Load More Replies...Boredpanda should post more of this type of post. This is absolutely excellent!
well this secures my teasing that all my pregnant friends are just playing hosts to alien parasites. /s
Jace, Bored Panda does not hide origins of its posts, doesn't it?
Load More Replies...Ugh god, I hate being a woman. Exactly why I never want to have children. I truly don't understand the desire to have them. And don't even get me started on the inherent sexism that exists in our bodies. Curse you nature!!!
Inherent sexism? Would like to point out that women have a superior nervous system and their gonades are on the inside where they are protected. So it's men too, for example. Nature has given you a lot of cool gadgets, but I'd understand if you'd rather have echolocation or feathers.
Load More Replies...Very cool explanation and easy for anyone to follow. I always referred to pregnancy as a parasitic infection, lol!
This is a much better explanation of what I'd heard of before, that the uterus basically sloughs off its lining in an attempt to get rid of an embryo. So a period, is basically a woman's body saying, "Let's nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." It's NOT a 'tantrum' that there's no baby. It'd be great if we could discover better methods of preventing periods with fewer side-effects, so no woman had to suffer through them anymore unless they're actually TRYING to get pregnant.
I learned in 5th grade that the uterus sloughs off its lining only because a fertilized egg did not show up to rent it for nine month.
Load More Replies...What about dolphins? They have an excellent brain, but do they have this same trait?
I think they have crazy long gestation rates. I could be wrong though.
Load More Replies...As if I needed any other reasons not to have children. They're parasites. I was a parasite inside my mom. What a disturbing, fascinating post.
Thanks for the heads up if I decide to get pregnant! (Probably not after reading this, Thanks for the shield to dodge multiple bullets btw)
She did get one thing wrong. Dogs also menstruate outwardly. Most breeds do so once a month, but some breeds that are more primitive than others, like Basenjis and Canaan Dogs only do so twice a year (if that. There are some lines of Basenjis that only come into heat once a year!)
I would have never called a pregnancy a symbiosis. In reality it's more of a parasitic relationship at least how I've seen it and everything in this post just makes me think more along those lines. Nice to see that some people have looked into the why's and how's for it. Seriously an interesting and informative read.
As a male, I feel somewhat guilty of initiating such a potential deadly "parasite",(of which we all are) into my beloved wife.
Totally read like a horror story. No pregnancy ever again. Had 3. I'm good. *runs and hides*
Haha I have one kid(4 stepkids) and told the doctors in the room to give me my depo shot when I was finished giving birth and I want a hysterectomy. They said oh it’s not so bad you may want another kid. I do not! They were surprised a few months later when I came back for a depo shot and asked if I could be pregnant. I said no my SO got a vasectomy and I am here to get the shot(they won’t give me a hysterectomy). They couldn’t believe that it wasn’t just giving birth that made me not want to go through pregnancy ever again.
Load More Replies...whoa, turns out there's hell of a drama happening inside me at that time, no wonder it hurts that badly
The fact that we, thinking and conscious people, don't really get it why women have periods and that the periods are such a complicated business, makes me think why would anyone put the blame on brainless, not conscious and random evolution.
Nature is extremely cruel, she doesn't care about pain, suffering, not to mention anybody's sex life, she only cares about reproduction, very prolific reproduction so there would be innumerable creatures to kill other creatures, and to kill each other.
Load More Replies...Wow, never learned this in school or parenting class when I was expecting my daughter. Definitely don't want another after reading this! Humans sure have a few design flaws eh?
If you copy content from other sites, you could at lest have the decency to copy it entirely. You cut out footnotes, and in science they are quite important.
I felt very cheated that I didn't get that break from periods during lactation.
Marian, because if they exist they are very brief; my friend counted on this "contraception" and have both her sons born in the same year.
Load More Replies...Ok, now do Menopause. Based on my understanding above, does it trigger when the body decides that the host is too s****y to conceive? Or is it when it had enough of of "its s**t" and kicks "it" out of the house (not without setting everything on fire, i hear)?
This is really interesting, and also... disturbing. In case periods weren't bad enough, you then learn it's because the body-part associated with nurturing mother's love is aggressively throwing dead babies in the trash...
Your reading comprehension may need work. It's talking about physically flawed embryos being eliminated. Not developed babies.
Load More Replies...birds: Let's peck our way out of here! sharks: I'll fight my way out of here! humans: Push, woman!
Cue women clamouring to again congratulate themselves on nature's achievements.
The whole point is to paint the complete evolutionary picture. I hope you learned to skim texts for their content and whether it is or isn't interesting to you. If not. Then I'm sorry because you must read a lot you don't care about. But just because you don't care or possess this skill, doesn't make people stop sharing information outside your area's of interest.
Load More Replies...We need more of these scientific, thought provoking, detailed posts from which we actually learn something new.
Unfortunately, there will be naysayers to attempt to discredit science, therefore nothing has been learned.
Load More Replies...This is so well written and both entertaining and informative. Great post.
Hahaha yes fetuses are parasites for sure. I lovingly called my son a parasite throughout my whole pregnancy. He hijacked all of my emotions and heightened my sense of smell while making me drink a gallon of milk a day, I am slightly lactose intolerant. I needed the calcium apparently.
Load More Replies...Boredpanda should post more of this type of post. This is absolutely excellent!
well this secures my teasing that all my pregnant friends are just playing hosts to alien parasites. /s
Jace, Bored Panda does not hide origins of its posts, doesn't it?
Load More Replies...Ugh god, I hate being a woman. Exactly why I never want to have children. I truly don't understand the desire to have them. And don't even get me started on the inherent sexism that exists in our bodies. Curse you nature!!!
Inherent sexism? Would like to point out that women have a superior nervous system and their gonades are on the inside where they are protected. So it's men too, for example. Nature has given you a lot of cool gadgets, but I'd understand if you'd rather have echolocation or feathers.
Load More Replies...Very cool explanation and easy for anyone to follow. I always referred to pregnancy as a parasitic infection, lol!
This is a much better explanation of what I'd heard of before, that the uterus basically sloughs off its lining in an attempt to get rid of an embryo. So a period, is basically a woman's body saying, "Let's nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." It's NOT a 'tantrum' that there's no baby. It'd be great if we could discover better methods of preventing periods with fewer side-effects, so no woman had to suffer through them anymore unless they're actually TRYING to get pregnant.
I learned in 5th grade that the uterus sloughs off its lining only because a fertilized egg did not show up to rent it for nine month.
Load More Replies...What about dolphins? They have an excellent brain, but do they have this same trait?
I think they have crazy long gestation rates. I could be wrong though.
Load More Replies...As if I needed any other reasons not to have children. They're parasites. I was a parasite inside my mom. What a disturbing, fascinating post.
Thanks for the heads up if I decide to get pregnant! (Probably not after reading this, Thanks for the shield to dodge multiple bullets btw)
She did get one thing wrong. Dogs also menstruate outwardly. Most breeds do so once a month, but some breeds that are more primitive than others, like Basenjis and Canaan Dogs only do so twice a year (if that. There are some lines of Basenjis that only come into heat once a year!)
I would have never called a pregnancy a symbiosis. In reality it's more of a parasitic relationship at least how I've seen it and everything in this post just makes me think more along those lines. Nice to see that some people have looked into the why's and how's for it. Seriously an interesting and informative read.
As a male, I feel somewhat guilty of initiating such a potential deadly "parasite",(of which we all are) into my beloved wife.
Totally read like a horror story. No pregnancy ever again. Had 3. I'm good. *runs and hides*
Haha I have one kid(4 stepkids) and told the doctors in the room to give me my depo shot when I was finished giving birth and I want a hysterectomy. They said oh it’s not so bad you may want another kid. I do not! They were surprised a few months later when I came back for a depo shot and asked if I could be pregnant. I said no my SO got a vasectomy and I am here to get the shot(they won’t give me a hysterectomy). They couldn’t believe that it wasn’t just giving birth that made me not want to go through pregnancy ever again.
Load More Replies...whoa, turns out there's hell of a drama happening inside me at that time, no wonder it hurts that badly
The fact that we, thinking and conscious people, don't really get it why women have periods and that the periods are such a complicated business, makes me think why would anyone put the blame on brainless, not conscious and random evolution.
Nature is extremely cruel, she doesn't care about pain, suffering, not to mention anybody's sex life, she only cares about reproduction, very prolific reproduction so there would be innumerable creatures to kill other creatures, and to kill each other.
Load More Replies...Wow, never learned this in school or parenting class when I was expecting my daughter. Definitely don't want another after reading this! Humans sure have a few design flaws eh?
If you copy content from other sites, you could at lest have the decency to copy it entirely. You cut out footnotes, and in science they are quite important.
I felt very cheated that I didn't get that break from periods during lactation.
Marian, because if they exist they are very brief; my friend counted on this "contraception" and have both her sons born in the same year.
Load More Replies...Ok, now do Menopause. Based on my understanding above, does it trigger when the body decides that the host is too s****y to conceive? Or is it when it had enough of of "its s**t" and kicks "it" out of the house (not without setting everything on fire, i hear)?
This is really interesting, and also... disturbing. In case periods weren't bad enough, you then learn it's because the body-part associated with nurturing mother's love is aggressively throwing dead babies in the trash...
Your reading comprehension may need work. It's talking about physically flawed embryos being eliminated. Not developed babies.
Load More Replies...birds: Let's peck our way out of here! sharks: I'll fight my way out of here! humans: Push, woman!
Cue women clamouring to again congratulate themselves on nature's achievements.
The whole point is to paint the complete evolutionary picture. I hope you learned to skim texts for their content and whether it is or isn't interesting to you. If not. Then I'm sorry because you must read a lot you don't care about. But just because you don't care or possess this skill, doesn't make people stop sharing information outside your area's of interest.
Load More Replies...
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