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Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction.It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles in a male.
As puberty begins and sex hormone levels rise, differences appear, though some changes are similar in males and females. Male levels of testosterone directly induce the growth of the genitals, and indirectly (via dihydrotestosterone (DHT)) the prostate. Estradiol and other hormones cause breasts to develop in females.
In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult body has been developed. Until the ...
The gradual growth in sex difference throughout a person's life is a product of various hormones. Testosterone is the major active hormone in male development while estrogen is the dominant female hormone. These hormones are not, however, limited to each sex. Both males and females have both testosterone and estrogen. [107]
The adolescent growth spurt is a rapid increase in the individual's height and weight during puberty resulting from the simultaneous release of growth hormones, thyroid hormones, and androgens. [ 38 ] : 55–56 Males experience their growth spurt about two years later, on average, than females.
Starting puberty significantly early — younger than age 8 in girls, 9 in boys — may have health effects lasting into adulthood, including higher risks of breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
[1] [2] This includes the embryological development of the primary male sex organs, and the development of male secondary sex characteristics at puberty. Androgens are synthesized in the testes, the ovaries, and the adrenal glands. Androgens increase in both males and females during puberty. [3] The major androgen in males is testosterone. [4]
At 11 years old, I confided in my mom that I thought I was dying as I had two identical tumors forming on my chest. There was no judgment—or really any kind of reaction—for my mom’s part.