Study the Effects of Puberty on our Bodies

Puberty is one of the times of greatest change throughout your entire life. It's part of that transition between being a child and becoming an adult which is known as adolescence. Puberty involves a whole variety of physical (bodily) and emotional (feelings) changes that means that you will emerge from them as an adult: physically able to have children but probably not emotionally ready to deal with all the consequences.

Once a baby is born, it grows and at around 12 months it becomes a toddler.

Toddlers turn into children at about 3 years.

Children between the ages of 10 to 15 experience massive changes in their bodies: fast growth takes place during this period. These changes are known as puberty and are usually finished by the age of 18. Usually, girls go into puberty before boys, although (like all of the changes you'll experience) they vary considerably from person to person.

Sex hormones released by the ovaries and testes start off the changes that define puberty. Sex hormones can cause acne (spots) and emotional changes, too. This includes boys and girls becoming more interested in each other. The period during which all the physical and emotional changes take place is called adolescence.

There are lots of changes that take place during adolescence, and when and how they happen is as individual as each person; so, your journey through puberty will be unique to you. They don't all happen at the same time for everyone either, so some of your classmates may seem further ahead of you, others further behind.  Anyway, here is a chart that summarises the basic physical changes that boys and girls experience in puberty:

So, we can use all that information as we explore some of the changes that we experience during puberty.

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