Is it possible for a woman to naturally ovulate over and over in a month, not just once a month? I don't mean multiple births, where it all happens about the same time, I mean an ovum being released every other day for a month?
I thought that I heard somewhere that sexual intercourse can sometimes trigger ovulation? Which of course would be cool, as I advocate naturally large families worldwide, so that far more people may live. That the natural flow of human life should be unhindered. I'm not so sure that it's exactly on-schedule clockwork?
I defer to the judgment of the first professional who logs on here, but... Many large mammals have an estrus cycle that's synchronized with the seasons, to facilitate a childrearing process that takes many months, allowing the young to reach maturity at a time of year when conditions are most propitious for their survival as beginners. The human childrearing process takes more than a decade so that synchronization is pointless. The estrus cycle has been shortened accordingly. I suspect that it is as short as our physiology can support. The uterus has to be prepared with a placenta to nourish the zygote, an unused placenta can only be maintained for a short while, and then it must be flushed. The whole process seems to take about a month. As a result there is only about a one-week "window" in that month during which the fertilization of an ovum would serve any purpose. Abnormal fertilizations occasionally occur, such as ectopic pregnancies, and they can pose grave problems. The release of an ovum at the wrong time would at best be useless and at worst could be dangerous. Another unique feature of the human estrus cycle is that we have no "mating season." It's common in warm-blooded animals for the female to only be physically capable of copulation when she is in estrus, and therefore the pheromone production (e.g. dogs), courtship ritual (e.g. birds who have practically no sense of smell) or other signals that trigger the male's mating instinct (it might be as simple as the changing of the season in animals with an annual cycle) only take place at that time. A human female's organs, glands and muscles are always capable of being coaxed into performance even when she is not fertile. Thus with our species copulation has shifted from a strictly reproductive function to a family/social-bonding behavior. There are a few other species in which this is also true--pack-social species like ours in which family/social-bonding behavior is important to survival, including our close cousins the chimpanzees as well as dolphins. This creates an... er... interesting situation in humans as we transform ourselves into a herd-social species by transcending our pack-social instinct with reasoned and learned behavior. In a pack-social species the pack is an extended-family unit of individuals who are intimately acquainted and have almost all relied on and cared for one another since birth. The intimate act of copulation among these individuals may present the genetic complications of incest (which it indeed does in the very small gorilla pack), but it is consistent with the familiarity and affection that comes with pack life. In a herd-social species, as we become increasingly adapted to living among strangers, non-procreative copulation takes on a new purpose: ritual bonding as a way to create intimacy. I wonder whether people who have traveled extensively, and have had sex with foreigners, would be instinctively less likely to vote for politicans, or support other types of extremists, who advocate bombing their cities?
You're talking about some pretty obscure condition then. Do think maybe you've exceeded the capacity of SciForums to give medical advice? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Well Orlander, It very likly that a female will release more than one ovum each month, as with most females animal or human. Some animals release as many as 50,000 ovum. And that is just about the maxium form ovum release. even in the male such as the human male only so many sperm cells can be release within a given time frame, for example the development of a mature sperm cell takes about 72 days, on average the human male releases about 250 million to 500 million sperm cells each normal release. if you do the math you find that the male produces about 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 sperm cells a day, at the end of 72 days only 7,000,000 spermcells are mature, the remaining developing sperm cell reach maturity each day after the 72 day mark. For the human male to have a complete sperm cell count of developed mature sperm cells it takes almost 6 months. Just as a male releases many sperm cells a female as a rule will release more than one ovum from the same ovary, even though she may release more than one ovum, the ovums have to make it into the falliopian tubes. in some cases the ovum does not make it into the falliopian tubes but the sperm cell makes it pass the opeaning of the falliopian tubes and still is successfull in penetrating, and fertilizing the ovum of a human female, this results in what is called adominal pregancy(where the fertilzed ovum attaches to the stomach lining of a feamle). At any time when a female ovulates she may release more than one ovum, potentialy the female may release as many as 20,000 to 50,000 ovum. the success of the ovum is to make into the falliopian tubes, where it can be fertilized by a sperm cell. at the same time some ovums that make it into the falliopian tubes where the others did not could poteinally be missed by sperm cell and the sperm cell pass them and travel through falliopian tube and fertilize another ovum resulting in a abdominal pregancy. This would be the behavior of just one ovary, most of the time the ovaries alternate in the emmission of ovum, however it is not uncommon for a human women to release ovum from both ovaries. early periods are mostly likly the release of a ovum by the secondary ovary. one release of a ovum from one ovary usally results in the faliure of the release of a ovum from the secondary ovary, as the first ovary causes chemical hormone changes before the secondary can become active and release the second ovum in the same month. Even so it remains that the second ovary is active been treated with hormone flux and so has begun the partail release of the ovum from the ovary, so within the next month the secondary will release a ovum in stead of the one that released the last ovum(completeing the alternation cycle of the two ovary in a female). If the hormones that are release are strong enough both ovary can release ovums at the same time in one month. The cycle of ovation can be altered greatly from month to month by diet, women with poor diets have irregular ovation, as well menstral cycles. Can a women release a ovum every other day, this occurrs in normal ovation each month, as said before a female normally will release more than one ovum, each ovum leaves the ovary at a slightly different time within several hours of each other. if a female has a large does of a particule hormone it is possible that the ovation release time will be exstended, as is seen with fertility drugs. Regardless the ovums are only good for so long after they are released from the ovary, having a normal life span of about 14 days and can only be fertilzed in a very short time frame of 24 hours, if lucky 48 hours. DwayneD.L.Rabon
I am certain that hormone cycles couldn't be distrupted to the point where you are ovulating every second day. A lot of the hormones are complex molecules which takes time for the body to produce and release before they signal the next hormone in the cycle. It's tightly regulated by concentrations of all the chemicals required. It is possible, as I'm sure you're aware, to have an irregular cycle where a week or a few days are added or removed from the time it takes the cycle to complete, but the situation you were specifically asking about can't occur, I'm fairly certain.
Why couldn't a human female produce nearly as many eggs, as the male produces sperm? It doesn't really take that much of the body's energy. And cells produce complex molecules all the time. What would limit it really, is that the human reproductive system is created by intelligent design (God), not by random happenstance (evolution). So human fertility probably would naturally be restricted, to something like what the human reproductive system can normally handle. So why would a woman's body try to produce 100s or millions of babies at a time? Could there be any purpose to that, given that it wouldn't work? Maybe a few babies, usually one at a time, as the womb is only but so big. Besides, there are billions of fertile human wombs in the world, a far more efficient and reliable way to add billions more people to the world, all the more valuable people to experience life.
I see that there are some classical and common biological misunderstandings being expressed here. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! For one thing, a woman is born with all the egg cells present in her ovaries that she will ever have. They reach maturity at an average of 27 - 31 days but are never replaced. And that's only one reason they aren't released in quantities like male sperm - she would quickly deplete her entire lifetime supply VERY quickly. Another reason, obviously, is that there is also a limit to the number of fertilized eggs the womb can contain physically. Yes, fertility drugs and large doses of estrogen WILL cause multiple releases in an extraordinary short time. There are also a number of physiological and psychological problems that can cause it as well. But as to releasing a mature egg every other day for even a short period of time - no.
doesn't the hypothalamus control ovulation? What if there is a tumor in it? And what about women who hit menopause in their 30s? Is it cuz they were born with few eggs or they released them in mass quantities and they are all gone?
Intresting it is Orleander, The human female actually can reamin fertile to a elderly age, 80's and 90's. Women who actually follow a reproductive life, follow a life style the invovles giveing birth to children remain fertile and do not have the exsperence of menopause and other condtions. Some people refer to these women as breeders, women who generally have a very easy time giving birth. Because they give birth frequently the ovation proccess is stopped during the pregancy and for as long as four years (4) during the normal lactation period required for the infant. So these females keep a good store of ovums as they only lose a few ovums every 4 years. Menopasue is a condition of modern women that live in cities and have a low birth rate. It is not a condition of Natural women in practice. (indigenous women) The oldest women to give birth was 89 years old, she also had 98 children (all by the same father). It is the women who refuse to carry out pregancy that in end develope pitted ovaries, and other such aliments such menopause. Just because something is wrong with another part of the body does not mean that the reproudctive proccess is destroyed. DwayneD.L.Rabon
The human female actually can reamin fertile to a elderly age, 80's and 90's. Women who actually follow a reproductive life, follow a life style the invovles giveing birth to children remain fertile and do not have the exsperence of menopause and other condtions. Some people refer to these women as breeders, women who generally have a very easy time giving birth. Because they give birth frequently the ovation proccess is stopped during the pregancy and for as long as four years (4) during the normal lactation period required for the infant. So these females keep a good store of ovums as they only lose a few ovums every 4 years. Menopasue is a condition of modern women that live in cities and have a low birth rate. It is not a condition of Natural women in practice. (indigenous women) The oldest women to give birth was 89 years old, she also had 98 children (all by the same father). It is the women who refuse to carry out pregancy that in end develope pitted ovaries, and other such aliments such menopause. Just because something is wrong with another part of the body does not mean that the reproudctive proccess is destroyed.
