Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An energetics-based approach to understanding the menstrual cycle and menopause

  • Published:
Human Nature Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To explain the menstrual cycle and menopause, human biologists during the past several decades have developed new models of the evolutionary origins and maintenance of female reproductive patterns that address both ultimate and proximate causation. Hypotheses proposed for these processes generally offer explanations for menstruation or for menopause, but not for both; ultimately, these explanations must be integrated. Reviewing current explanations, this paper offers an energetics-based evolutionary rationale compatible with past adaptations of Homo sapiens and with ecological patterns in small-scale, preindustrial social systems in which food resources vary and sometimes are scarce.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Austad, S. N. 1994 Menopause: An Evolutionary Perspective. Experimental Gerontology 29: 255–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baer, A. 1999 Health, Disease, and Survival. A Biomedical and Genetic Analysis of the Orang Asli of Malaysia. Subang Jaya, Malasia: Center for Orang Asli Concerns.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentley, G. R. 1999 Aping Our Ancestors: Comparative Aspects of Reproductive Ecology. Evolutionary Anthropology 7:175–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delaney, J., M. J. Lupton, and E. Toth 1988 The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation, revised ed. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, J. W., and A. J. Mayer 1953 The Social Biology of Very High Fertility among the Hutterites: The Demography of a Unique Population. Human Biology 25:206–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, P. T. 2001 On Fertile Ground. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, J. 1990 Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, R. L. 1970 Population Biology of the Russian Old Believers of Marion County, Oregon. Ph.D. dissertation, University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1985 Issues for the Future. In Male-Female Differences, R. L. Hall with P. Draper, M. E. Hamilton, D. McGuinness, C. M. Otten, and E. A. Roth. Pp. 299–305. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, J., J. K. Ockene, R. L. Brunner, J. M. Kotchen, J. E. Manson, R. E. Patterson, A. K. Aragaki, S. A. Shumaker, R. G. Brzyski, A. Z. LaCroix, I. A. Granek, and B. G. Valanis 2003 Effects of Estrogen plus Progestin on Health-Related Quality of Life. The New England Journal of Medicine 348(19):1839–1854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K., J. F. O’Connell, and N. G. Blurton Jones 1989 Hardworking Hadza Grandmothers. In Comparative Socioecology, V. Standen and R. A. Foley, editors. Pp. 341–366. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holman, D. J., J. W. Wood, and K. L. Campbell 2000 Age-Dependent Decline of Female Fecundity Is Caused by Early Fetal Loss. In Female Reproductive Ageing, E. R. Velde, F. Broekmans, and P. Pearson, eds. Pp. 123–136. Studies in Profertility Series 9. Carnforth, UK: Parthenon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell, N. 1979 Demography of the Dobe !Kung. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeliffe, D. B., and I. Maddocks 1964 Notes on Ecologic Malnutrition in the New Guinea Highlands. Clinical Pediatrics 3(7):432–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster J. B., and B. J. King 1985 An Evolutionary Perspective on Menopause In In Her Prime, J. K. Brown and V. Kerns, eds. Pp. 13–20. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leidy, L. E. 1994 Biological Aspects of Menopause: Across the Lifespan. Annual Review of Anthropology 23:231–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1999 Menopause in Evolutionary Perspective. In Evolutionary Medicine, W. R. Trevathan, E. O. Smith, and J. J. McKenna, eds. Pp. 407–427. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leidy-Sievert, L. 2001 Menopause as a Measure of Population Health: An Overview. American Journal of Human Biology 13:429–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard, W. R., and S. J. Ulijaszek 2002 Energetics and Evolution: An Emerging Research Domain. American Journal of Human Biology 14:547–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonetti, D. L., D. C. Nath, N. S. Hemam, and D. B. Neill 2003 Effect of Grandmother’s Presence and Work Effort on Fertility, Survivorship, and Weight in Two Ethnic Groups in N. E. India. American Journal of Human Biology 15:270–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, A. J. 2001 Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease: Past Patterns, Uncertain Futures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, K. A., D. J. Holman, and J. W. Wood 2001 Menstrual Cycle Variability and the Perimenopause. American Journal of Human Biology 13:465–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panter-Brick, Catherine 1997 Women’s Work and Energetics: A Case Study from Nepal. In The Evolving Female: A Life-History Perspective, Mary Ellen Morbeck, Alison Galloway, and Adrienne L. Zihlman, eds. Pp. 233–241. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavelka, M. S. M., and L. M. Fedigan 1991 Menopause: A Comparative Life History Perspective. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 34:13–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peccei, J. S. 1995 A Hypothesis for the Origin and Evolution of Menopause. Maturitas 21:83–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 2001 Menopause: Adaptation or Epiphenomenon? Evolutionary Anthropology 10:43–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Profet, M. 1993 Menstruation as a Defense against Pathogens Transported by Sperm. Quarterly Review of Biology 68:335–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strassmann, B. I. 1996a The Evolution of Endometrial Cycles and Menstruation. Quarterly Review of Biology 71:181–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1996b Energy Economy in the Evolution of Menstruation. Evolutionary Anthropology 5:157–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wassertheil-Smoller, S., S. L. Hendrix, M. Limacher, G. Heiss, C. Kooperberg, A. Baird, T. Kotchen, J. D. Curb, H. Black, J. E. Rossouw, A. Aragaki, M. Safford, E. Stein, S. Laowattana, and W. J. Mysiw 2003 Effect of Estrogen Plus Progestin on Stroke in Postmenopausal Women. Journal of the American Medical Association 289(20):2673–2684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. W., D. J. Holman, and K. A. O’Connor 2001 Did Menopause Evolve by Antagonistic Pleiotropy? In Homo: Unsere Herkunft und Zukunft, M. Schultz, ed. Pp. 483–490. Gottingen: Cuvillier Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators 2002 Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women. Journal of the American Medical Association 288:321–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, 97331, Corvallis, OR

    Roberta L. Hall

Authors
  1. Roberta L. Hall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta L. Hall.

Additional information

This paper is an expansion of a poster paper presented at the 2002 Human Biology Association meetings in Buffalo, New York.

Roberta L. Hall is professor of anthropology at Oregon State University. Her main interest is in evolutionary aspects of human biological variation. Current research involves body composition relationships with resting metabolic rate in males and females and climatic adaptions of nasal morphology. She also enjoys working with the Coquille Indian Tribe of southern Oregon on research concerning their prehistory and is studying ramifications of the coastal hypothesis of North American settlement.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hall, R.L. An energetics-based approach to understanding the menstrual cycle and menopause. Hum Nat 15, 83–99 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-004-1005-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-004-1005-9

Key words

Search

Navigation