When Lola was eight years old, she went through a massive growth spurt and started developing acne. Her mother, Elise, thought Lola was just growing fast because of genes inherited from her father. But when she noticed that Lola had grown pubic hair too, she was floored. A visit to an endocrinologist in 2023 confirmed that Lola's brain was already producing hormones that had kick-started puberty. Lola had also been struggling emotionally. 'She would have panic attacks every day at school,' says Elise, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and asked that her surname and Lola's real name be omitted. Although eight might seem young to start puberty, it's not as rare as it once was. Data show that girls around the world are entering puberty younger than before. In the 1840s, the average age of first menstruation, or menarche, was about 16 or 17; today, it's around 12. The average age for onset of breast development fell from 11 years in the 1960s to around 9 or 10 years in the United...
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