REACHING THE AGE OF ADOLESCENCE

REACHING THE AGE OF ADOLESCENCE

— Adolescence: The period of life, when the body undergoes changes, leading to reproductive maturity.

— Adolescence begins around the age of 11 and lasts up to 18 or 19 years of age. Adolescents are called TEENAGERS as this period covers the teens (13-18 or 19 years of age). For females, the adolescence begins a year or two earlier than boys. The period of adolescence varies from person to person.

— Puberty: The period of adolescence during which an adolescent reaches sexual maturity and becomes able to reproduce.

— CHANGES AT PUBERTY

1.     Increase in Height: There is sudden increase in height of person during puberty due to elongation of the bones of arms and legs. Even though height of person depends on inherited gene, eating habit and exercise during adolescence also decides height. Initially girls grow faster than boys. Both reach maximum height by the age of about 18 year.

*Formula for calculating full height(cm) = Present height(cm)/ % of full height at this age X 100

2.     Changes in body shape: In boys, the shoulders broaden and muscles of the body grow more prominently than in the girls. For girls, there is widening of the region below the waist and less growth of muscle.

3.     Voice change: Voice box/larynx in boy develops into larger in size, seen as protruding part of throat as ADAM’S APPLE. In girls, larynx is hardly visible due to smaller size in growth. Boys have deep voice where as girls have high pitch voice. In boys, voice may become hoarse as muscles of growing voice box grow out of control.

4.     Increased activity of sweat and sebaceous glands: During puberty, there is increase in the secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands which may lead to appearance of acne and pimples.

5.     Development of sex organ: At puberty, male sex organs like testes and penis develop completely and begin to produce sperms. In girls, the ovaries enlarge and start releasing eggs/ova.

6.     Reaching mental, intellectual and emotional maturity: Adolescents are more independent and self conscious than earlier. They tend to think more. Feeling of insecure when while trying to adjust to the changes in mind and body is prominent. During adolescence, a person’s brain has greatest capacity for learning.

— SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS: Characters which develops prominently during adolescence which helps to distinguish between male and female are known as secondary sexual characters. Some of these characters are as listed below;

SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS
FEMALE	MALE
Begins to develop breasts	Begins to grow facial hair i.e. moustaches, beard
Hair under arms, pubic region	Hair on chest, arm pit, pubic region

— Hormones are chemical substances secreted by endocrine system/ endocrine glands (Ductless gland i.e. endocrine glands release hormone directly into blood stream to reach particular body part/TARGET SITE). Hormones control the changes during adolescence. Pituitary gland (found attached to brain) secretes hormone which in turn control the production of hormone from other endocrine glands. Some endocrine glands,  their secretion and effect are given in the table below;

ENDOCRINE GLAND/ORGAN		SECRETION or HORMONE	FUNCTION	HORMONAL DEFICIENCY DISEASE OF THE HORMONE PRODUCED
SEX HORMONE	Testis in male	Testosterone	Secondary sexual characters like growth of facial hair
	Ovary in female	Estrogen	Develop breasts(*Mammary glands develop inside breasts)
HORMONES OTHER THAN SEX HORMONE	Pancreas	Insulin	Control carbohydrate metabolism	Diabetes
	Pituitary gland	Growth hormones	Regulate normal growth of person
	Adrenal glands	Adrenalin Hormone	Helps body to adjust to stress resulted by anger, worry etc. Maintains correct salt balance in the blood
	Thyroid	Thyroxine	Controls body metabolism	Goitre (Sufficient Iodine in diet may precvent goitre)

— ROLE OF HORMONES IN INITIATING REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION

 

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— ROLE OF HORMONES IN COMPLETING THE LIFE HISTORY OF INSECTS AND FROGS: Metamorphosis (Change from larva to adult) in insects is controlled by insect hormones. In frog, thyroid should produce thyroxine hormone for metamorphosis (change from tadpoles to adult frog). Sufficient iodine in the water is also an important criteria for metamorphosis in frog.

— REPRODUCTIVE PHASE OF LIFE IN HUMANS:

*       Adolescents become capable of reproduction when their testes and ovaries begin to produce gametes.

*       In females, reproductive phase of life begins at puberty (10-12 years of age and generally lasts till the age of approximately 45-50 years).

*       Ova mature and is released by one of the ovaries once in about 28-30 days. During this period, the uterus becomes thick so as to receive the mature ova. Fertilized egg develops pregnancy.

*       Unfertilized egg along with the thickened lining of uterus and blood vessels are shed off in the form of bleeding in women once in about 28-30 days is termed MENSTRUATION.

*       Initial menstrual flow begins at puberty and is termed MENARCHE.

*       Stoppage of menstrual cycle at 45-50 years of age is called MENOPAUSE.

*       Initially, menstrual cycle may be irregular. It takes some time to become regular.

— HOW IS THE SEX OF THE BABY DETERMINED?

*       Instruction for determining the sex of a baby is present in the chromosome of fertilized egg (zygote).Human have 23 pairs of chromosomes including two sex chromosome (X and Y) in the nucleus of their cells.

*       Females have two X chromosomes and males have one X and one Y chromosome.

*       Unfertilized egg has one X chromosome. Sperm may have one X chromosome or Y chromosome. Therefore, sex chromosomes of the father determine the sex of the unborn baby.

— REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The physical and mental well being of an individual is regarded as health. To keep the body healthy, every human being at any age needs to have a balanced diet, must observe personal hygiene and undertake adequate physical exercise.

Nutritional needs of the adolescents: Adolescence is a stage of rapid growth and development. So, balanced diet comprising proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins in requisite quantity is essential.

*Iron builds blood. Iron rich food such as leafy vegetables, jiggery, meat, citrus, Indian gooseberry is good for adolescent.

Personal hygiene: Take bath once a day. It is more necessary for adolescents due to increased activity of sweat glands which may lead to smelly body. All parts of body should be washed and cleaned everyday.

Physical exercise: Adolescents should take walk, exercise and play outdoor games in fresh air to keep them fit and healthy.

Say no to drugs: Shouldn’t use drugs for relief until and unless doctor prescribes.  If taken once, you will feel like taking them again and again which will ruin health and happiness. Dangerous virus like HIV can be transmitted through sexual contact with infected person or by sharing the syringes used by infected person for injecting drug.