relationship. Consequently, the girl takes a greater interest in her personal appearance, with a tendency to self-consciousness.
MENSTRUATION
Perhaps the principal phenomenon of adolescence to the young woman is the beginning of menstruation, commonly called the "periods," "the monthlies," etc. This is a discharge composed chiefly of blood and mucus from the generative organs. It is a perfectly normal function, and therefore should be accepted as a natural process, and not be considered a trial or burden imposed upon womankind by a malevolent act of nature. It occurs, normally, every twenty-eight days, and lasts from three to five days, during the woman's child-bearing period of about thirty years.
The greatest amount of blood is usually passed during the first two days. It has been estimated that the quantity of blood expelled during a menstrual period averages from one and one-half to three ounces.[1] In very full-blooded women, it may be considerably more.
There are commonly various depressing symptoms preceding and accompanying the initial appearance of menstruation, due to the organism adjusting itself to a new stage of life. It is a mistake, however, to begin the practice of looking upon the menstrual periods as the regular recurrence of a condition of semi-invalidism lasting for several days each month.
There is a relationship of the menses to the psychic and nervous organization of woman that warrants a word of comment. Menstruation is a physiological function involving quite a complicated chain of events in the organism. It is, therefore, naturally accompanied by certain general, as well as local, reactions.
- ↑ William J. Robinson, M.D., Woman, p. 73.
