Can Precocious Puberty Be Prevented? Find Now

Precocious Puberty refers to a condition when the secondary sexual characters in females starts before the age of 8-9 years and in males before 9-10 years. Thus, it is the condition when a child’s body begins changing into an adult body before it is due. It involves rapid growth of bones and muscles leading to changes in body shape and size. The development of body’s ability to reproduce comes early than the predicted average age.

Though there is no way of predicting the age of onset of puberty in the child, family history is should be checked in such cases. Precocious Puberty only becomes evident when the boy or girl starts showing signs like:-

• adult body odor
• Acne
• rapid growth of hand bones
• secondary sexual characters known for males and females.

Reason

Precocious Puberty is due to premature hormonal secretion from hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenals and ovaries, the cause for which can be unknown. Precocious puberty with elevated Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) is diagnosed as Central Precocious puberty and without it, Peripheral Precocious Puberty. Presence of underlying problems like tumors etc. should be ruled out through diagnostic techniques like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Responsible Factors

Doctors and life style experts are listing a number of factors which are responsible for Precocious Puberty. Some of them are:-

• sedentary life style leading to childhood obesity
• unhealthy food habits
• eating poultry food and meat treated with hormones & antibiotics
• eating genetically engineered vegetables & cereals
• using fermented soy in diet during pregnancy
• using soy based infant formula
• exposure to synthetic chemicals as in plastics and pesticides

It has been found that Fluoride, which is added to the majority of public water supplies, reduces the level of circulating Melatonin and triggers early onset of puberty. Several psychological and emotional factors also play part. It is being reported now that precocious puberty is more common in children who:-

• grow up seeing stressful environment
• poor socio-economic conditions
• traumatic and fatherless childhood etc. 

Impact on Child

Precocious Puberty can have profound impact on the child.  Early Puberty leads to a lot of physical as well as psychological problems.

• The physical problems may include:-
  • pain during menstrual cycle in girls and in limbs in boys.
  • Acne and genito-urinary infections due to lack of awareness and maturity towards maintaining hygiene are also common.
• The psychological issues may include:-
  • mood swings due to hormonal changes.
  • Early puberty leads to the development of sexual urges at an early age.

This can be dangerous as the child is not mentally mature enough to understand and constructively channelize these urges. Sometimes, these children start feeling socially awkward and conscious about their body shape. This leads to low self-esteem which gradually pushes them towards depression. Thus, if seen in this light, precocious puberty is indeed a major issue at least of urban society.        

Conventional Treatment

The conventional treatment involves regular administration of GnRH hormone (GnRH Analogue Therapy) or invasive method of receiving a Histrelin implant under the skin, in most cases, for a year. These interventions are stopped as soon as the child reaches the age of normal puberty. The treatment may vary if there is a presence of an underlying medical condition like tumors etc.   

Parents have got a vital role to play in management of this issue. They are advised to assist these children not only with their physical issues like maintaining hygiene, coping with pain if any but also standing firmly against social and religious isolation.  They should also support them emotionally so that they are not pushed towards depression due to body shaming etc.

But most of all, Prevention is better. Doctors advise that parents should avoid exposing their children to hormonal medications containing estrogen or testosterone. Care should be taken while using plastics at home. Use of packaged & processed food items should be rationed along with screen time. Children should be encouraged to participate in outdoor games.

How yoga can Help

Yoga can play an ideal form of exercise as it influences the whole psychophysiological apparatus. All children should be motivated to start practice of yoga at an early age. This will correct the imbalances and delay appearance of such undesired changes. According to Swami Satyananad Saraswati, Pineal gland is a very important gland and is correlated to Ajna chakra. It is active during childhood and starts to get atrophied after the age of 8 years. If a tailored yoga schedule is planned for children at the age of 8 years, the atrophy of pineal gland gets delayed which ensures balanced effect of Pineal gland on brain to keeps it in optimum grasping stage with heightened learning abilities.

A well planned yogic regime not only keeps the body weight under control but also induce subtle changes at hormonal levels which will correct the imbalances. An ideal yogic regime should include:-

• Dynamic Practices such as suryanamaskar which help to burn calories thereby maintaining weight
• Static asanas with awareness to tone up reproductive organs and re-establish hormonal balance to bring about hormonal, circulatory and organic changes
• Pranayama to re-establish autonomic balance and Meditation to cope up with the demanding situations and conflicts

Conclusion

It can thus be concluded that Yoga if started at the age of approximately 8 years can be a useful method to optimize the time of attaining maturity, so that physical and mental maturity can go pace to pace with each other. This is the reason why many eminent academicians are strongly recommending that yoga should be made a compulsory part of the school education and not just extra-curricular activity. This will not only improve psychophysical health of children but also recondition their minds towards positivity. Yoga education can be used to cultivate moral values and a healthy outlook towards sexual issues. Youth is the strength of India. Therefore, it is important they be healthy and morally strong. Yoga can definitely bring about change in the youth and through them in nation.

References:   

1. Padubidri V.G., Daftary Shirish N., Shaw’s Textbook of Gynaecology, 10^th edition (1990), B.I. Churchill Livingstone Publications
2. Saraswati Satyanand Swami, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, 2^nd edition (1997), Bihar Yoga Bharti, Munger, Bihar
3. Saraswati Satyanand Swami, Yoga for Children, 1^st edition (1994), Bihar Yoga Bharti, Munger, Bihar
4. Sembulingam k, Sembulingam P, Essentials of Medical Physiology, 6^th Edition (2012), Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers
5. https://m.timesofindia.com/lifestyle/health-fitness/health-news/why-are-girls-hitting-early-puberty/amp_articleshow/52344103.cms
6. Jamanetwork.com>jama
7. www.mayoclinic.org>syc-20351811