You won’t give your ovaries a lot thought (until you are making an attempt to get pregnant), however even when you don’t take into consideration them on the common, these walnut-sized organs really play an enormous position in your on a regular basis life. “From a organic perspective, we’re placed on the Earth to make extra of us, in order that type of makes the ovaries one in all our most essential organs,” says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, scientific professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences on the Yale Faculty of Medication. Listed below are 5 belongings you didn’t find out about your greatest reproductive pals.

1. They produce an entire lot of hormones.
Your ovaries secrete estrogen and progesterone, says Minkin. These two hormones are answerable for the event of the feminine physique throughout puberty (assume boob progress, your interval, and the widening of your hips). Estrogen and progesterone additionally prep the uterus for conception—and never producing sufficient can result in hassle getting pregnant. Plus, your ovaries churn out your physique’s provide of testosterone (albeit in smaller quantities than the estrogen), which you’ll be able to thank to your intercourse drive. (Repeat after us: No extra weight-reduction plan. Ever. As an alternative, discover ways to eat clear—with zero deprivation!—and watch the kilos drop off, with Your Metabolism Makeover.)

MORE: 6 Sensible Methods for When Your Intercourse Drive Stalls 

2. They modify sizes.
Not like lots of your organs, your ovaries aren’t static in dimension; they really change loads over the course of your cycle and the course of your lifetime. Month to month, your reproductive powerhouses (that are about three to 5 centimeters in size usually) will fluctuate as they do their factor, releasing an egg every month. “With ovulation and the seemingly formation of a small cyst that comes together with it, the ovary can develop a little bit in dimension,” says Alyssa Dweck, MD, assistant scientific professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai Faculty of Medication. “However that’s solely short-term.” These small adjustments cease whenever you undergo menopause. As soon as your ovaries formally exit of fee, they’ll actually shrivel up (enjoyable!).

3. They will get stressed.
“Ovulation is certainly affected by stress,” says Dweck. When your physique is beneath stress—we’re speaking the intense type that’s introduced on by a significant life change like shifting to a brand new metropolis or a bodily change like shedding lots of weight—your ovaries will cease releasing eggs. “Merely put, it’s nature’s manner of stopping being pregnant throughout instances of stress,” says Dweck.

4. They may very well be behind your pimples.
Since ovaries play such a giant position in your hormonal stability, they are often behind hormonally-driven bodily points. “With sure circumstances like polycystic ovarian syndrome, the hormone stability of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone turns into actually altered,” says Dweck. “Extra testosterone signs like pimples, hair progress in sometimes male locations, and weight fluctuations could be seen.” Your physician can prescribe medicine that may assist get this beneath management.

MORE: 7 Methods to Maintain Interval Zits at Bay

5. They love the Capsule.
Contraception—particularly estrogen and progesterone variations of the Capsule—can majorly scale back your threat of ovarian most cancers inside just some months of beginning, in accordance with the American Most cancers Society. The Capsule even performs a big position in lowering the chance in girls who’re carriers of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations (which put you at increased threat for ovarian most cancers), says Minkin. “Contraception drugs are extraordinarily efficient and may scale back their threat by as much as 50% in some research,” she says. “It’s a really good protecting issue.”

The article 5 Information Each Girl Ought to Know About Her Ovaries initially appeared on Ladies’s Well being.