Menstruation — that most intimate part of every woman’s life — is still, despite modern education, often misunderstood.
So let’s consider exactly what this function is, and the parts of the body involved.
The organs concerned with menstruation are the womb, the ovaries, and the fallopian tubes.
The womb, or uterus, is a pearshaped organ roughly 7.6 cm (3 inch) long and 3.8 cm (IVi inch) wide, and it lies low down in the pelvis.
The womb is mostly thick muscle, but it is lined with several layers of cells known as endometrium.
The ovaries are two almond-shaped organs lying either side of the womb about 5 cm (2 inch) away. The fallopian tubes connect to the top of the womb, and their open outer ends lie very close to and partly enclose the ovaries.
The womb thins down to a narrow neck, the cervix, and sits on top of and projects into the vagina.
The beginning of a woman’s menstrual cycle really begins at the end of menstruation, or bleeding.
A hormone, oestrogen, is produced by the ovaries and causes the lining of the womb to thicken, to become soft and spongy.
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