3.1. ANATOMY OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
From the biological point of view, human reproductive function should be realized to the full like in all nature. Ensuring multiple offspring is the basis of preserving any species living on Earth. Nature has planned it so that any woman of reproductive age should be either pregnant or menstruating preparing her body for subsequent pregnancy. However, the last decades have seen emergence of ecological and reproductive dissonance in the human population: inconsistency between the style and rhythm of modern life on the one hand, and genetically determined program of species preservation that has been working for many thousands of years.
Until mid-1950s, in many countries of the world the reproductive scenario for women was quite stable: onset of menstrual periods at about 15, marriage and onset of sex life by 16 (no more than 30-40 periods before the first pregnancy as a rule). A pregnancy ended in childbirth and prolonged lactation followed by another pregnancy. Ovaries were "at rest" for years without periods and ovulation. Periods subsided at the age of 40-45; within her lifetime a woman had no more than 160 ovulations. On the other hand, the average lifespan of women did not exceed 49-50 years.
In the twenty-first century the lifespan increased to 75-80 years, and the reproductive period in the woman's life has 400-500 menstrual periods which is about three times more than in women of previous generations. Physiological features of contemporary women have changed along with the stereotypes of reproductive behavior: earlier menarche is noted much more often, late first childbirth, fewer pregnancies, short-lived lactation or total refusal to breastfeed, later decline of menstrual function. A woman has to limit herself to 1-2 childbirths and cope with all the burdens of modern society. This cannot but tell on the functional condition of a system conditioned for fecundity and opens the door for global increase in gynecologic morbidity.