Geek Out: Over To You- Fathers, Fertility And Females!
Huge variation:
Although the actual ages listed may be a little out of date now as the article that I took this paragraph from is a little old, it still demonstrates very nicely that we shouldn’t talk about whole countries as there can be huge differences across different populations within a single nation:
Taken from: Menarche - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Menarche symbolizes the onset of sexual maturity and is characterized by the onset of the first menstrual bleeding. The average age at menarche is 13.8 years; however, it ranges from 9 to 18 years and varies by race and ethnicity [1]. The median age at menarche for European girls ranges from 12.6 years (Italy and Greece) to 15.2 years (Russia). The median age for North American girls varies from 12.5 years (U.S. blacks) to 13.8 years (U.S. Eskimos), the median age for Asian girls ranges from 12.7 years (Singapore) to 18.1 years (Nepal), and the median age for African girls varies from 13.2 to 17.0 years (Rwanda) [1].
Periods earlier:
Whilst early menarche doesn’t appear to reduce the length of a women’s potential reproductive period, it does increase her lifetime risk of breast cancer unfortunately – take a look at this link to find out more:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488186/
Menopause:
If you’re interested in this topic consider going to an earlier post (and geek notes), the joys of the menopause.
And if you’re interested in learning more about terms like menopause and menopausal transition, take a look at this lovely Mayo clinic page:
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-menopause
Dawn Brooke:
there would seem to be a smidge of doubt over this as she does appear to have been using HRT at the time which could’ve extended her ability to ovulate. None the less, there are other examples of women in their late fifties conceiving naturally so we can put this down as the absolute upper end (and very uncommon!).
Take a look at good old Wikipedia for a fascinating list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_over_age_50#:~:text=Maria%20del%20Carmen%20Bousada%20de,2005%20to%20a%20baby%20girl.
Naturally:
I’m using the word “natural” here to mean by having sex rather than using IVF or ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection, when a single sperm can be used from men with a low sperm count, and is injected directly into an egg). A sperm and egg fusing is technically always natural, the method of how those two are brought together is defined though as “natural “or “assisted”.
