What is a woman? One word - folliculogenesis

Have you ever heard of folliculogenesis?

❣️🍒🔴❓🍎📌🛑👠🥤♦️ ❣️

Most women are taught that menstruation is simply the shedding of the uterine lining. And, to most girls at 10-14 years of age, it feels like a curse.

What’s rarely taught is the amazing biological magik women carry!

What is rarely explained is that menstruation also marks the beginning of a new ovarian process called follicular recruitment and how she is apart of a cycle of time and space. She is a time keeper!

••••

New follicular recruitment is the moment when the ovaries activate a fresh group of immature egg follicles to begin a new menstrual cycle.

Here’s what happens biologically:

At the start of menstruation, estrogen and progesterone fall to their lowest levels. This hormonal drop signals the brain that the previous cycle has completed. In response, the pituitary gland releases follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

FSH tells the ovaries to begin recruiting follicles.

Each follicle contains:

• One immature egg (oocyte)

• Cells that produce estrogen

• The potential to become the ovulatory follicle that cycle

Typically, several follicles (often 5–20) begin to mature at once. As they grow, they produce estrogen, which supports mood, energy, cognition, skin health, and overall vitality. Eventually, one follicle becomes “dominant” and will release an egg at ovulation. The remaining follicles naturally dissolve back into the ovary.

This process happens every cycle, regardless of whether pregnancy is desired.

Follicular recruitment is essential because it:

• Initiates estrogen production

• Regulates mood and brain chemistry

• Supports bone and cardiovascular health

• Sets the hormonal tone for the entire cycle

It is the biological reset point that allows the body to select new potential and begin again.

This information is rarely taught, yet it is fundamental to understanding women’s hormonal health.

••••

In the reproductive years (roughly teens–late 30s)

• Each cycle, the ovaries recruit a cohort of follicles

• Those follicles produce estrogen

• One becomes dominant → ovulation

• Estrogen rises and falls in a predictable rhythm

The system is responsive and well-coordinated.

••••

What changes in perimenopause?

Perimenopause is not the loss of hormones overnight.

It is the progressive breakdown of follicular recruitment.

Here’s what is happening biologically:

1. Ovarian reserve declines

• Women are born with a finite number of follicles

• By the late 30s–40s, the remaining follicles are:

• Fewer in number

• Less responsive to FSH

• More variable in quality

2. Recruitment becomes erratic

Instead of:

• Recruiting a predictable cohort each cycle

The ovaries may:

• Recruit too many follicles

• Recruit none

• Recruit follicles that don’t respond well

• Recruit follicles that produce uneven estrogen

This is why perimenopause feels chaotic.

3. Estrogen becomes unstable (not just “low”)

In perimenopause:

• Estrogen can spike very high

• Then crash suddenly

• Then disappear for a cycle

• Then surge again

This instability comes from inconsistent follicular activity, not from estrogen “failing.”

4. FSH rises

When follicles don’t respond well:

• The brain increases FSH

• It’s essentially shouting: “Please respond.”

High FSH is a compensation signal, not the root problem.

Symptoms explained through recruitment

When follicular recruitment becomes unreliable, estrogen becomes unreliable — and estrogen supports:

• Mood stability

• Sleep regulation

• Temperature regulation

• Libido

• Cognitive clarity

• Skin and connective tissue

• Nervous system buffering

This explains:

• Mood swings

• Anxiety or depression

• Hot flashes

• Sleep disruption

• Loss of confidence or sense of self

• Feeling “not like myself anymore”

••••

What menopause actually is:

Menopause occurs when:

• Ovarian follicles are essentially depleted

• Recruitment no longer occurs

• Ovulation stops permanently

• Estrogen production from the ovaries ends

At this point:

• There is no more cyclical reset

• No more follicular recruitment

• Hormones stabilize at a low baseline

This is why many women feel better emotionally after menopause than during perimenopause - the chaos stops.

Key clarification (important)

Menopause is not a hormonal failure.

It is:

• The natural completion of follicular life

• The end of cyclical recruitment

• A shift from cyclical estrogen to non-ovarian sources (adrenal, fat tissue, peripheral conversion)

The suffering most women experience comes from perimenopause, not menopause itself.

A concise factual summary you could share

During the reproductive years, each menstrual cycle begins with follicular recruitment — the ovaries activate a group of follicles that produce estrogen and support ovulation.

In perimenopause, the ovarian reserve declines and follicles respond inconsistently to hormonal signals. This leads to erratic follicular recruitment, unstable estrogen levels, and many of the physical and emotional symptoms associated with this transition.

Menopause occurs when follicular recruitment ends entirely and ovarian estrogen production ceases, resulting in a stable but lower hormonal baseline.

Why this matters:

When women understand this:

• Their experience stops feeling personal or psychological

• Symptoms make biological sense

• Care can focus on stability and support, not “fixing” the body

Folliculogenesis ends when the remaining follicles in the ovaries are incapable of responding to the hormonal cues that previously recruited some follicles to mature.

This depletion in follicle supply signals the beginning of menopause. Each cycle of folliculogenesis, for a follicle, lasts around 2 months and a half.

•••

In females, reproductive capacity is established during fetal life, not at puberty.

By around 20 weeks of gestation:

• A female fetus’s ovaries contain millions of primordial follicles

• Each primordial follicle contains:

• One primary oocyte

• Arrested in meiosis I (paused development)

• These follicles represent every potential egg she will ever have

When a woman is pregnant with a daughter:

• She is carrying:

1. Her child

2. Her child’s future eggs

#FemaleReproduction #WhatIsAWoman #folliculogenesis #PrimordialFollicles #menstruation