Stuff You Should Know - Josh and Chuck Make It Through Male Puberty

Episode Date: May 7, 2015

Around ages 9 or 10 a boy will begin to undergo a magical, surprising, weird, amazing, totally bonkers transformation from childhood to adulthood. To separate fact from myth, Chuck and Josh take on the role of gym teachers and wade into male puberty. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

attention bachelor nation. He's back. The host of some of America's most dramatic TV moments returns with the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison. During two decades in reality TV, Chris saw it all and now he's telling all. It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope. We have a lot to talk about. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Munga Chauticular and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to believe. You can find it in Major League Baseball, international banks, K-pop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable

happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over there, which I don't know if Jerry should be in here for this one. Why not? We're talking male puberty. You and I, we're putting on our health class faces. Yeah. Both of us got crew cuts for this one. You're wearing a whistle around your neck. I'm wearing knee socks and shorts. Yeah,

I was taught because I was raised in a pretty conservative Southern Baptist home. I was taught this stuff by my preacher. Nope, they didn't talk about this stuff. That's my point. I was taught in health class by my PE teacher, this lady who seemed to struggle with teaching boys about puberty. I can't really blame her. She tried her best, but this is, you know, when the PE teachers had to teach health as well. And I don't think that she got into that profession to teach health. No, she was like, I like coaching volleyball, but I don't like teaching boys about puberty. She seemed very uncomfortable. Comes with job, lady. Well, if you are a gym coach and you're teaching a health class right now and you're using us to teach for you, you owe

us some money. Agreed. So we are, we're doing a great job so far, if you ask me. I think so. And this is, you know, I think we have a responsibility because I was raised in that thing where like, you know, my parents didn't teach me this stuff. So I think it's important to kids, puberty is tough. I mean, it's important to normalize it and the kids know that these changes are happening and what they mean and how they function. Oh yeah. You know, I think this is a bit of a service. It was. It is. It is. Yes. I was talking like we'd already finished. Oh, you were hoping you'd already finished. And this, this article, by the way, was written by the great Tom Sheve. Oh yeah. Did a wonderful job. Agreed. Chuck. Yes. Did you know

that over the last like 150-ish years, the average age of puberty in girls has dropped by like five or six years? What? Yeah. So in 1860, the average age of monarchy was 16.6 years old. Wow. That's pretty late. Yeah. In 2010, it was 10.5 years old. Wow. Seems young, right? It does. And everybody's like, what's going on? It's probably the milk. Like there's some horrible stuff going on. Or they're saying, what's monarchy? Well, monarchy is the onset of menstruation. The first time in a girl. Exactly. I think that came up in our totem pole episode. It was a long time ago. Yeah. So this onset of monarchy has decreased by a lot and a lot of people are alarmed by it. But there are some evolutionary biologists out there who are saying actually

settle down. We think that this is closer to the normal time when puberty should come on. Gotcha. And that like 16.6 is way delayed. Yeah. And it was actually a relic, a remnant of changes that were brought about by a transition to agriculture. The result of higher infections and poor nutrition led to a later onset of monarchy. Well, it's pretty, it's easy to say, well, girls start puberty here. Yeah. And boys, it's not quite as defined, but they think that probably boys' age of onset for puberty has gone back to as well. Oh, really? Yeah. So it's, we're going through puberty younger as young boys as well. Yeah. So even though it is very difficult to say this is when a boy starts puberty, that didn't stop some researchers, especially a guy named Richard

Tanner from trying, he came up with the Tanner scale. It's a scale of one to five in Roman numerals. And it's all based on the growth of your genitalia and pubic hair. Interesting. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's not completely subjective, but it's pretty subjective. Yeah. And you might have heard of the Tanner scale by seeing the posters in restaurants all around the country. Yes. Right next to the employees must wash hands before returning to work. Exactly. All right. So we're talking about puberty, which is that transition that all kids go through. We're talking about male puberty, of course, in this case. Just male puberty in this one. Yeah. Even though I already talked about female puberty. Well,

we should probably tackle female puberty at some point. Sure. For, for little boys, they generally, like you said, the time has shifted perhaps, but right now between the ages of nine and 18 is when it starts through completion generally. Typically. Typically. You can start earlier. It can go later. It can follow different courses. Sure. It moves at different speeds and different guys. Yes. And I'm going to say this a few times. If you are a boy out there and you are going through your changes in puberty at different rates than your friends, that is okay. Yeah. You are not a weirdo. It stinks, but it is very normal. That's right. And you just may, you've heard of the term late bloomer. You may just be a late bloomer and that's okay because you will bloom. Well,

and you might not even be a late bloomer except for this month. Right. Next month. It's kind of like, you know, that horse race that you can do with the spraying the. Yeah. You squirt the water in the hole in the horse's gallery. Right. Exactly. And they kind of move back and forth. That's a lot like puberty. Yeah. Like once you've really got a bead on that water gun. Yeah. That's when the horse really starts moving. But practice all you want. You can squirt water anywhere and it's not going to help accelerate your puberty. That's right. All right. So what happens? The beginning of puberty, no matter when it starts, is going to get kicked off when a substance called gonadotropin is released. I'm sorry, gonadotropin releasing hormone.

Yeah. Is released in the body. GNRH. That's the big, that's the one that starts it all. That's right. And apparently you have that stuff in your hypothalamus. Yeah. You've got all these things, hormones in your body just waiting. Waiting to come in contact with one another. Like a nitroglycerin coming together basically. So you've got GNRH in your hypothalamus and apparently it has to move to the pituitary gland for things to get triggered. So puberty is like a Rube-Golberg-esque process. Yeah. Yeah. So it takes something called GPR54 which is another hormone to come in contact with gonadotropin releasing hormone. Right. And then all of a sudden things start up.

And that actually- Which is brew, as they say. When that process happens, that's called gonadarchy. Oh, really? Yes. Interesting. I think the reason monarchy was such a funny word to me back when we recorded that. I figured it out all these years later. It sounds like malarkey. Yeah. Which is just a funny word to me. Right. Because no one says malarkey, but I think it's a great word. Right. So monarchy and malarkey is just a little too close for my taste to keep me from laughing, you know? Sure. All right. So the stages of puberty, they're generally five and they overlap and it's one just big awkward mess. But you can kind of break it down into five stages. Right. The first one is going to begin, like we said, around nine

or 10 years old. Nine's a little early. Ten is what they would consider normal, I guess. Sometimes it might happen as late as 12 to get things going. Right. Which by which time you're like, come on. All right. Start. I just remember being in school and some kids were like a foot taller than other ones. Oh, yeah. Like my buddy, Jim, I said, you know, like he had a mustache when he was like 13. Yeah. I know. I had a friend like that in third grade. Yeah. It's crazy. So again, different timetables for everybody and it's all okay. So when this GNRH is released in stage one, your testicles are going to start to mature and grow. Your body, your height, you're going to start growing at about two inches per year at this point. Which is pretty significant. Yeah.

Oh yeah, for sure. Growing two inches in a year. When's the last time you did that? I guess probably when I was like 12. Probably. Although I never hit one of those growth spurts like a lot of those too. Oh, really? No. Yeah. Did you? Yeah, here or there? Really? Uh-huh. Yeah, I don't know. You're just slow and steady when's the race? Yeah. I don't remember any, like, I remember some of my friends that had, like, their bones would hurt and they would actually have those growing pains. I never had that. Yeah. Yeah, no, it wasn't. Yeah. But I remember coming back from the summer and a kid would have grown like six inches, it seems like, in several months. Right. And it just blew my mind because I was.

And like, I was a late bloomer. And like drank wine from a deer skin now. Had a little mustache. Yeah. So your testicles are growing and because your testicles are growing, that means their house, the scrotum is also growing. And all this is because that gonad is open, releasing hormones started up. That's right. And it's no accident that it starts with gonad, of course. It's all linked. Right. So your testicles are growing and maturing at this point, but you're not able to reproduce just yet. No way. No, that comes a little later. And I had a question, like, why aren't we born capable of reproduction? And I thought, like, I would find some stuff on it. All I could find was one single Yahoo Answers question.

And everybody was like, what kind of a stupid question is that basically? So I guess it is kind of a stupid question. But the point is because you're not capable of taking care of yourself. Sure. Therefore you wouldn't be capable of taking care of a baby. Yeah. You have to develop socially, psychologically, and physically. Yeah. The female body probably couldn't handle childbirth either. Right. So it makes sense to not come out of the womb being capable of sexual reproduction. Yeah. It makes sense for that to have to develop at some point. Sure. Agreed. So also in stage one, you're going to start getting a little fine pubic hairs.

That is called pubarchy. Is it really? Not kidding. Did you just add anarchy to anything? Pretty much. I got your hierarchy. There's all sorts of things that come about. And you might start to get your first erections at this point. You are not going to have any idea what's going on with your body. But it's going to happen. Right. Unless you take an advanced health class. Right. At like nine years old. Right. Or if you have parents who are comfortable talking like this. Or an older brother. That's how they should be. Yeah. But boy, sometimes you're getting bad information. Well, to combat that kind of stuff, there

have always been educational films about this kind of stuff. Yeah. I found one from the 50s called Everybody Changes or something like that. Yeah. And it's basically like a track and field coach answering questions from his track and field team. Like me. Who all seem like plants, frankly, in this thing. Well, it's a film. I guess still. Yeah. But it's pretty, it's pretty good. It's on our podcast page. Yeah. Oh, cool. For this episode. All right. So that's stage one. You enter stage two around 12 or 13. Your testicles are still a growing. Yes. So that's the thing. And they, they grow faster and most prominently first. Right. That's like the sign that you're impuberty. Everything else might not be happening.

But your testicles are probably growing pretty quick. Yeah. And that means before your very eye making a sound if you listen closely. I knew we would be just like two dumb little kids. The crew cuts didn't have any effect. And this means you're going to be producing testosterone as well, which is going to make you crazy as well. You're going to start to grow quicker in height two to three inches a year. And one of the reasons why Chuck is because that testosterone is being produced. So basically the gonadotropin releasing hormone sources chain reaction and it leads down to your testicles. Yeah. And it basically says start producing testosterone. And then that floods the body and has all sorts of crazy effects. But one of them is your bone

cells have testosterone receptors and they grow in the presence of testosterone. So all of a sudden they're being flooded with testosterone, which is why you grow so quickly. Why you undergo growth spurs is because of the testosterone having that impact on your bones. Awesome. And muscles. And finally in stage two, those fine pubic hairs are going to start as my gym teacher said to become coarse and curly and darker. You're going to get more erections more frequently and your body is just going to start to become a little leaner. You're going to start to look a little more like an adult. Like a tiny adult. Yeah, which is funny. You know, by the end of the fifth stage, they said at this point, you look like a man, your shoulders are broad, but

you know, you look back on your high school pictures and you're like, I look like a little baby. Like I didn't start looking like a man until I was in my thirties. Right. But compared to like your six year old self. Exactly. You resemble the male physique more than before. Absolutely. Third stage of puberty for boys is going to be 13 or 14. Your pubic hair is going to get even darker and more full. It's about the pubic hair. Well, it's a big change, you know. Well, it's part of the Tanner scale. That's why it's so it's very recognizable. That's right. That's why it's on the poster and Olive Garden. Your penis at this point is going to start to grow in length. And of course, all the while your testicles are still growing. You're getting more and more

erections and your height is going to grow at about three inches per year at this point. Then your voice is going to start cracking, which is super interesting. I know you dug up exactly what's going on there with your voice cracking. Yeah. Yeah, it's really interesting. Um, so remember testosterone makes stuff grow, basically. And one of the things that it makes grow is your vocal cords, right? Yes. Which are basically two cartilaginous bands that go over your trachea, your windpipe. Yeah. So that when air passes through your lungs past your vocal cords, it makes them vibrate. Yeah. And that vibration is what your voice is that creates your voice. When you're a younger kid and your vocal cords are still small, they can vibrate vibrate a

really fast frequency, like say 200 vibrations per second. Yeah. Cause they're smaller. Right. But as they grow in the presence of testosterone, they grow bigger and thicker. They can't vibrate quite as fast. So they might go down to like 130 vibrations a second. Well, that's a lower frequency, which eventually leads to a deeper voice. Yeah. It's like a guitar string, the thicker guitar string is lower. Perfect analogy. That's exactly right. Right. Another thing that happens, which creeps me out to no end, but it, it's part of it is your voice box that part of the, the top of your trachea that holds your vocal cords grows in size. Yeah. And tilts forward. Yeah. And my friend, you have an Adam's apple after that. Yeah. Not always.

Well, I mean, you, some are more prominent than others. Yeah. I know. It depends on like the shape and structure of your neck. Sure. But even if you can't see it, if you just kind of rub your finger up and down from your chin to your chest, it's in there. You're going to feel your Adam's apple. I'm feeling mine right now, buddy. Oh, it's so creepy to me. It's kind of like, it produces the same emotional state as thinking about peeling a fingernail back. Yeah. That's what Adam's apple is due to me. Interesting. Like just the thought of my Adam's apple. Ah, I don't even like to touch it, but I can't stop. So, so odd. Wow. That is odd. Yeah. But anyway, that's your Adam's apple. And that's why your voice changes. It goes from growing,

from very small to growing large and it deepens. One of the other things too, Chuck, I thought this one was really cool. The testosterone in your skull. Yeah. The facial bones. Yeah. So, you know, testosterone causes your bones to grow. That includes your facial bones as well. And as they grow, your sinuses grow. So, that means that there's more empty space for your voice to resonate in, which also makes it deeper. Yeah. And they don't know evolutionarily exactly why, but the theory is, which makes perfect sense to me, is that one, to attract women or to intimidate other men with that deep voice. Right. Yeah. Or just a signal, I've arrived. Don't you hear my voice? Yeah. Which sounds totally different than when you say, all right. All right. Don't you hear my

voice? Yeah. Niko, you haven't arrived. Right. So, that's in stage three. Stage four, around 14 or 15, you're going to start getting that armpit hair. You're going to start maybe getting a little facial hair, although I didn't get facial hair until quite a bit later. And I don't even remember when I got it. I think, I mean, I wasn't shaving in high school. Now I can't get rid of it. I know. Look at me. I look like Fidel Castro. Especially when you wear that hat. The Castro hat? Yeah. That's weird. Your pubic hair is going to get more coarse. Your voice is going to drop even deeper. And you're going to start to get acne, which is really sad. Well, that's part of the result of sebum. Yeah. We did a great podcast on acne.

Yeah, we did. And I looked this up even September, 2011. The Comito, which is Latin for worm. That's the stuff that you squeeze out of the center. Yeah. I mean, should we just cover what acne is real quick? Sure. That buildup of sebum, that oil, which is necessary. The water pressure skin. Yeah. But you overproduce it during puberty. Yeah. Plus you're also sloughing off skin cells at a crazy rate. Yeah. That's a recipe for disaster. All of those things are trying to exit through pores and hair follicles. And they can't always make it. So when it gets built up, it blocks, goes through the three stuages syndrome. I'm trying to get through the door at the same time, right? And then certain types of bacteria,

acne bacteria come in and infect it and it swells. And then you have a pimple. That's right. That's all there is to it. It's fine. And Tom actually goes to the trouble of providing some advice on what to do with it. And it's great advice because you think you might want to scrub it to death and use every super drying product you can find. Yeah. With a scouring pad. That's the exact opposite of what you want to do. Yeah. Because that can make it worse. You want to gently wash your face or your shoulders or your back or whatever. Yeah. Or everything a couple of times a day. Keep it clean. Which is a problem because young boys aren't known for loving showers at this point. No, no. But if this is a thing to you

and it's bothering you, then go to the trouble of doing something about it. Yeah. It's pretty simple and straightforward. Just wash your face gently with just lightly. Yeah. A couple of times a day and that's it. And don't overdo it because that just irritates it even more. It makes your face so bad. Yeah. That showering thing is so funny to me. In our buddy Mark Farley from the TV show played Clint Kinkham Beard. Clint Kinkham Beard said that he had a Facebook post the other day about trying to get his son to take a shower. It was just like marching him to the firing squad or something. Yeah. I remember that age was like, no, I don't want to take a shower. I don't want to do anything. But now like the shower is the best part of the day, you know.

Yeah. It's nice. I still hate taking showers. Really? The process of it, I'm like, oh, I'd rather be doing anything else. Oh, I love it. But then afterward, I'm like, man, I love showers. Interesting. It's just like going to the trouble of taking it. It just bothers me. Well, sometimes I'll do that. Had that thing around. I just don't want to be wet. Yeah. That's another one too. So I won't. Or in the winter time, you don't want to be, you know, you're going to be cold at the word. And that stinks. Yeah. Good point. And at the end of stage four, your penis at this point will start to grow thicker and continue to grow longer. But again, guys, this isn't happening at the rate that you would like. Don't worry about it.

Just hang in there. Just hang in there. You'll be okay. You'll be fine. People have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years. That's right. And finally, stage five, 14 to 18, you're going to grow most of your height at this point. Yeah. Although you might grow in your 20s a little bit. Probably not. This is where you're growing the fastest. You are growing several inches a year basically, whereas up to this point, you're growing two, two to three. Now you're growing up to maybe five inches in a year. That's crazy. Yeah. That's quick growth. Yeah. And that's like when I see my nephew now, he's like six, one.

He is so tall. It's so weird. Yeah. He's not weird. Oh, no, no, no. It's weird to see your nephew like taller than you. Right. All of a sudden. Just want to make sure we clarified that. Oh, he knows he's not weird. Okay. Your shoulders are going to be broader at this point. Your muscles are going to be more fully developed. You're going to have new muscle fibers. You're going to, everything is basically just getting thicker on your body. Yeah. They call it filling out, I think. Again, that's because of testosterone and all of these other hormones that you are producing. You were producing them mainly at night while you slept before, which is significant that it's released from the hypothalamus because the hypothalamus

also regulates sleep. Right. So while you're sleeping, the hypothalamus is like, I guess, keep myself busy by having some of these new hormones produced. Exactly. As you go further along in the stages of puberty, you actually are producing them all the time. Right. And in vast quantities. So that would account for your muscles growing bigger and your skeleton growing faster than ever and all this hair coming out everywhere and growing course and everything, you know. Well, and that's since you mentioned it, I wasn't going to bring it up, but your pubic hair in stage five is going to start to creep all over your body. It's going to be on your inner thighs and creeping up your stomach. You might get chest hair and

you're just wondering what in the world is happening in me. Yeah. So those are the stages. And right after this, we will come back with more on puberty, but not on pubic hair. No, we've got more on pubic hair, more on both attention bachelor nation. He's back. The man who hosted some of America's most dramatic TV moments returns with a brand new tell all podcast, the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison. It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope. But I promise you this, we have a lot to talk about. For two decades, Chris Harrison saw it all. And now he's sharing the things he can't unsee.

I'm looking forward to getting this off my shoulders and repairing this, moving forward and letting everybody hear from me. What does Chris Harrison have to say now? You're going to want to find out. I have not spoken publicly for two years about this. And I have a lot of thoughts. I think about this every day, truly every day of my life. I think about this and what I want to say. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What I saw as a weakness of his, I wanted to embrace. The way I thought of it was whatever love I have from you is extra for me. Like I already love myself enough. Do I need you to

validate me as a partner? Yes. Is it required for me to feel good about myself? No. Listen to Cheekies and Chill on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. So, Chuck, I've got a little more on pubic hair. Okay. It has promise. So, it's kind of an evolutionary mystery to why we have it. Because if you think about it, it doesn't really do a whole lot for guys. It doesn't protect anything. It doesn't keep vital stuff warm. Oh, it doesn't? Not really. Okay. I thought it would warm stuff up. No. It's like, no, not really. Okay. Not enough to explain why it's concentrated, where it's concentrated mostly. You know what I mean? So, they think probably what's going on is, number one, it's an

outward overt signal that this person has gone through puberty and is capable of sexual reproduction. Therefore, he is a viable mate. Right. That's one thing. That especially was a big signal when we weren't wearing clothes back in the day. Yeah. Right. And then secondly, they think also that is a transmitter of pheromones. Oh, yeah. Basically, that when you enter puberty and you start to grow armpit hair and pubic hair and just hair everywhere, you also start to open up a new type of sweat gland, apocrine sweat gland. Yeah. Whereas before, you just smelled like a little angel because you didn't stink because you weren't producing weird types of sweat. Yeah. Once you go through going at Archey, all of a sudden you start to stink. Yeah. You start to get that little

body odor here and there. Right. And even though you don't want to take a shower, everyone else wants you to take a shower. So, just go take a shower. Yeah. Because you stink. Stinky little teenager. Right. And one of the things that's making you stink is this new sweat with these new hormones that are coming out, but also supposedly you're producing pheromones as well. Although we don't, it's never been proven that humans are capable of sensing pheromones on other people, they think that there's a pretty high likelihood that we do and they think that pubic hair and armpit hair serve as just basically big neon signs for these odor molecules that were not necessarily capable of sensing. Gotcha. So, thank you for that, for giving us body odor.

All right. So, your body is growing like crazy, growing like a weed, as they say. Yeah. You are probably going to start growing taller than girls in your class who were probably taller than you before that because girls typically will grow height earlier than boys will. Right. I remember lots of girls that were taller than me through most of my elementary school. But don't worry guys, you will catch up. And don't worry girls. Yeah, because it's awkward for a girl sometimes to be taller than a boy because all these weird societal norms, you know, societal norms that are not only weird but wrong, of course. Yeah. When you're an adult, you realize it really doesn't matter. When you are going through puberty, it is the exact opposite of realizing that it

doesn't matter. Yeah. It seems like it matters a whole, whole lot. Yeah. That is not the case in reality, however. Right. It's just what you're going through. That's right. Hang in there. You're also going to be gaining weight between 15 and 65 pounds through puberty. Your extremities are going to grow like crazy. That's why teenage boys have these big clunky feet and these unwieldy hands and they don't know how to operate any of them. Right. That's why there's like this associated clumsiness with puberty. It's a real thing. Totally. It's not just this character sketch that people use for humor. Like pubescent boys and girls are clumsier than any other point in their life because their hands and feet are bigger than the rest of

their body. Oh yeah. That and then also if you ask a psychologist why they're clumsy, they will say that in addition to learning how to use these new bigger hands and feet and deal with them, you're also acutely aware you're going through the most self-conscious phase of your entire life. Yeah. So you're suddenly having thoughts like, do I look weird walking? Yeah. And when you stop and think about walking while you're walking, that makes walking really hard. So that contributes to the clumsiness as well. Yeah. Again, with my nephew, no, I remember before he was even super tall, I remember seeing these feet one time when I visited and I was just like, what in the world is going on down there, buddy? You know what? What do you mean? Yeah. He just had these huge,

huge feet and then the body catches up and then you lose that clumsiness and you're like, okay, everything's all proportioned now. Yeah. Your chin is going to get a little longer. Your face is changing shape. Your nose thickens up. And these are just like the physical changes. There's things going on inside your body as well. Yeah. Apparently your blood pressure increases. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah. Your metabolism decreases some. So you're going to start to put on a little more weight. We already talked about that you're going to start getting a little more stinky. And this is all like the normal course of things. If you start going through puberty too young, that can be a problem. Like if you're super young and going through puberty, you might want to see

a doctor because this could mean things problems later in life. It's called precocious pubescence. Archey? No. But it can be caused by everything from a tumor to well, a tumor. Yeah. It's not necessarily a medical problem, but it does suggest this article suggests that if you do and the Mayo Clinic did too. Really? That if you have a really young kid that's starting to show signs of puberty, you might want to just point it out to a doctor and see what they say. Right. I wonder what age is. I guess of nine is early than anything before nine. Yeah. Okay. I would guess so. Another thing that's going to happen with your erections is you might have wet dreams, nocturnal emissions. Nocturnal emissions. That's right. And wet dreams apparently is like a very

common term. Sure. They used it in that 1950s educational film. Oh yeah. I remember them saying that in my health class. It sounds like a sequel to porkies or something though, you know. Porkies to wet dreams. Yeah. Nocturnal emissions is, I mean, it just makes sense. That's right. And that's when you... That's gym class stuff right there. Yeah. That means you're asleep. You have a dream that's sexual in nature. And if it's a full wet dream, that means you ejaculate in your sleep. And the first time that happens in your little boy, you have no idea what's going on. You just wake up and you're like, what in the world just happened? Right. But nothing to be ashamed of. Hopefully your parents are talking to you about this stuff.

All very normal part of the process. Yes. Just quietly take the sheets off your bed and tell your parents that you've decided to start doing your own laundry from now on. Exactly. Well, I was a late bed wetter though, so I didn't know what the heck was going on. Oh yeah. I was just leaking fluids at night. I had no idea what to do. That's fantastic. And then erections, you're going to get erections when the wind blows. You might get erections in the boy's locker room. Yeah. And they said that is not a indicator of sexual preference. Yes. It is also a very normal thing that happens. Yeah. Pretty much anything can do that to you. Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry about that kind of thing. Again, you really should not base your worldview and your ideas about

what life is going to be like on the period of puberty because it is the weirdest time of your entire life and not just yours either of all of your friends, of your teachers, your parents, eventually your little brother's sisters, your parents, everybody, everybody, the weirdest time in their life is puberty. It's just a really odd experience. All right. You want to take another break? Why not, man? All right. We'll talk about these puberty hormones when we come back. I promise you this, we have a lot to talk about. For two decades, Chris Harrison saw it all. And now he's sharing the things he can't unsee. I'm looking forward to getting this off my shoulders and repairing this, moving forward and letting everybody hear from me. What does Chris Harrison

have to say now? You're going to want to find out. I have not spoken publicly for two years about this. And I have a lot of thoughts. I think about this every day. Truly, every day of my life, I think about this and what I want to say. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I already love myself enough. Do I need you to validate me as a partner? Yes. Is it required for me to feel good about myself? No. Listen to Cheekies and Chill on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, Chuck, we talked about that little time bomb of a hypothalamus holding the

gonadotropin-releasing hormone. And it's just waiting for the GPR-54 to come along and trigger its release. And the GNRH, the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, makes its way to the pituitary gland, which is a little pea-sized gland that I think it was Descartes thought where the soul resided. He turned out to be wrong, but that does actually trigger the production of two other important hormones, right? Lutinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. And these two things are kind of like the chemical messengers that go down to the gonads, the testicles, and say start growing and start producing testosterone and sperm. That's right. This is the process by which you become able to reproduce.

This is the process by which you grow a mustache. That's right. FSH, when it reaches those testicles. And it's follicle stimulating hormone. That is going to cause the growth of what are called seminaferrous tubules, and those are the tubes, basically, where the sperm is produced. And all this stuff is in your body again. It's just like it's waiting on the go sign. Exactly. It's like this boy needs to become a man. We're just waiting for the signal. And it's going to take six to eight years and then another 30 to 40 years after that. Right. So with the luteinizing hormone, that goes to the testes and it says, hey, there's these things called latex cells and they produce

androgens, which are hormones that basically help your development as well, including testosterone. And they say, start producing this. So these two things go down and you start producing sperm and testosterone as a result. And the sperm seeks its way out in any way, shape, or form it can, whether you like it or not. Right. And then the testosterone just spreads throughout the body. And again, it does everything from making the bones in your face grow to making your voice crack like Peter Brady to making you grow a foot in a couple of years to growing a mustache. That's right. Not ironically either. Because when you did it when you were 13, you were super cool. You know who is like the best example of a pubescent boy on television,

I think? Do you ever watch King of the Hill? Oh, sure. Remember Joseph? I don't remember Joseph. Oh, the, see the neighbor? Dale's son, but really it was John Redcorn's son. Yeah. Your neighbor, Bobby's friend, Joseph. He was awesome when he started to go through puberty. He had like that little mustache. He didn't, he'd get mad for reasons he couldn't explain. Just perfect. He was great. I was a big fan of Bobby too, of course. Oh, yeah. Oh, here's another cool thing. We talk a lot about the physiological things that happen, the body actually physically growing, but there's also the mind and psychological changes that happen and your brain is developing in such a way that it's really, really neat. You're going to start having interest in things

that you never thought you had interest in before. Yeah. Not just like riding the bike down to the creek and teasing the girls. You start thinking about life and why some people are poor and other people are rich or politics. All sorts of like kind of deep stuff all of a sudden now attracts your attention. Yeah. And you are going to start kind of thinking about life beyond the three feet in front of your face. Right. Or summer vacation. Yeah, exactly. Although summer vacation still rules for a while. That's true. You don't need to discount that. No, no, no, but you're going to start thinking about like maybe what do I want to do with my life and what kind of career do I want? Yeah. Or do I want to go to college? Like these things naturally just start popping up

in your head and with that comes a lot of anxiety because I've never thought about what my place is in the world. Right. Well, what if I don't end up being rich? What will become of me then? Yes. You're going to be confused. You're going to be anxious. You're also going to find that you're attracted to other people. Yeah. That's when those first seeds are planted. And that causes anxiety in and of itself. Yeah. Did they like me? Am I good looking? What is good looking? Do I look dumb walking right now? Right. What is walking? Is my stash coming in thick enough? What is a stash? Yeah. And you just, but it's true. Like when your brain is bathed in androgens for the first time, they find that not only does it restructure and reorganize the

way you think, which is why all of a sudden you're starting to think about deeper stuff and into the future and everything, but also the way it worked already changes. So this reward pathway that used to get you to go eat more blowpops because they're so great, all of a sudden is now concentrating on finding a date. Right. So what you place value on changes and that's because your brain is literally saying like go do this because this is going to feel great. Yeah. I definitely remember when self-awareness sort of kicked in, you know, when you didn't just walk by a mirror, all of a sudden you looked at it and you're like, well, this is what I look like. Is that, is it my handsome? Yeah. Do I look funny? Yeah. I'm just kind of short. Is that a bad thing?

Yeah. It's self-awareness is the best way to describe it. And as a result of this, depression can set in. Sure. There's such thing as pubescent depression, which yeah, and it is in many ways is a very natural result of starting to question things and realizing you don't have all the answers. Sure. And it's just things getting more complex. Yeah. That's why it's very important for parents to have a, to try to have a good line of communication as possible, but it's going to be even more difficult because there may be a possibility that your pubescent boy doesn't want anything to do with you at this point. Yeah. There may be a chance that that's the case. Well, not always though. I was, or my nephew again, I hate to keep picking on him, but

he's super close to my brother and my sister-in-law and, you know, they have a great relationship. But I'm still, I'm sure there's still some bit of that. Sure. Teenage stuff. And that's, that's a good thing to have too for the most part that when the, when the boy strikes out on his own or doesn't want to have anything to do with you or all of a sudden your car's stupid. So so drop me off two blocks from school. Yeah. That that shows signs of like them forming an independent spirit or whatever. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. You should encourage that and discourage them being little jerks though. Well, you gotta walk that fine line. Right. So as a parent of a pubescent boy, you, you have to give leeway, but you also have to like

curtail behavior that's problematic. Yeah, absolutely. And we mentioned depression earlier, of course, keep an eye on that kind of stuff and there's nothing wrong with having your young boy or girl go get like talk to a counselor or something. Yeah. That mean there's something wrong with you. It just means you may need a little outside help. No shame. No. And Chuck, we should say because somebody will write in to let us know if we don't what we've just described, the social and psychological development of a person. That's technically adolescence and adolescence is this whole broad change from childhood to adulthood and actually includes puberty as a component. Right. So puberty is part of adolescence. Yeah. We've been using them kind of interchangeably

for the last little bit, but I think it works. Yeah, I agree. And it can be very trying to raise an adolescent. So hang in there, parents. You went through it too. And before you know it, you'll all be buddies again. You have it coming to you basically for what you did to your parents. Pretty much. All right. I think we should finish with some pretty interesting male puberty rights from different cultures. Yeah. Here in America, when you enter puberty and your boy, your dad just gives you this kind of awkward punch in the arm and walks away and hopes you don't bring it up ever again. That's the right of passage for puberty in America. Yeah. That's kind of what happened to me. If you're Islamic, your parents are going to teach their sons adulthood and basically say that

from the time you have your first ejaculation is when you are responsible for your own actions. Yeah. I guess you have a little more leeway before that. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. If you are Jewish, you might have a bar mitzvah on your 13th birthday. Whether you like it or not, you officially are a bar mitzvah, a son of the commandment. That's right. But their new traditions have developed where you do something at the synagogue and then you have a party afterward, but you're just automatically on your 13th birthday bar mitzvah. That's right. Have you watched our live? Have you ever seen Jacob the bar mitzvah boy? No. It's really cute. Is it new? No. She's been around for a while. It's a woman who Vanessa

Bear does it. Though she has a little curly wig and a yamaka and sits down low in the chair. The whole concept of the skit is that she is this awkward bar mitzvah boy who can only read like a prepared speech. Right. And so they'll ask her questions and she'll just kind of batter eyes and then start reading from her prepared speech again. And she's like a New Yorker and is really very cute and funny. That is cute. So Chuck, you know, we did a pretty good episode on circumcision. Yeah. A male circumcision. We didn't do female circumcision yet. Not yet. But in that episode, we talked mostly about Western circumcision, but in a lot of cultures, including Malaysia and some parts of South Africa, circumcision is part of the ritual of

entering puberty. Yeah. So you'll be circumcised when you're like 11, 12, 13. Right. And it might be part of a larger ceremony as well. Like Aborigines in Australia perform circumcision at puberty, but then it's also paired with what's called a walkabout. Yeah. When they're sent out to walk. Right. Basically, they're like, you go away from us and go learn to hunt and survive on your own. But first we have to do something to you. Yeah. Well, they also have, and I was trying to find out how, if this is still done with great regularity, but they also, the Aborigines practice male birth control rituals. So after circumcision, they will pierce a hole through the base of the penis,

put a splinter in there to keep that hole open. So basically you urinate and ejaculate not through the end of your penis, but through this hole, which makes it really hard to reproduce. And I imagine it does make it hard to reproduce. Yeah. And I don't know if this is like what the modern Aborigines do, or if it's just an ancient custom. It's like there were one child policy. Oh, maybe so. I guess then when you pull the splinter out, it heals up enough to restore reproductiveness. Well, now the splinter is pulled out and there's a permanent hole there. So then how, how do you reproduce? Well, you, you plug it up with your finger, I think. Oh, compared to that, I'm sure if you're a Pueblo boy, you're like, oh, I just

have to take a nice bath. Let's do it. Exactly. Which is one of their rituals. There's a tribe called the Itorio tribe of Papa, Papua New Guinea. And they have forced homosexuality as part of the, the rites of passage for a boy. What you essentially do is a boy is paired with an elder man and they ingest semen. And that is part of the ritual to become a man from a boy with this tribe. So they just drink, there's no sexual act. There's drinking of sperm. Oh, no, there's, it's, it's with the sexual act. And then later on, you were paired as a man with another boy. And that is, I mean, it's a tribe of like 1300 people in Papua New Guinea. And they become a mentor. They believe that in the semen is your most concentrated life force. So that has passed

along to a boy. I had not heard that one either. There's a tribe in East Africa where they shaved the boy's head and then cut them to the bone on their forehead, three deep horizontal cuts. And they have a scar called a gar and it's a symbol of manhood. Lying on ant beds, the Luceno Indian tribe. When you become a man, you are to complete the ceremonial act of laying on an ant bed and being, you know, bitten and stung by ants without reacting. You just have to keep like a stone face. Wow. That's one of their rituals. And they also are given a hallucinogenic drug. To exacerbate it or make it better, you think? No, this is afterward, I think. Okay. Called a tolu kahi. And that's supposed to help them see

visions. I guess it's kind of similar to the vision quest of the Native American. Yeah. Yeah. Which is the thing too. Yeah. So those are some of the more interesting ones. Thanks to Cracked Magazine and. Yeah. Remember, I gave up cultural relativism in some respects. Yeah. But I also, it's not really, I don't feel like it's my role or position to just persuade other people to feel one way or the other about something. It's up to the individual. I hear you. I got one more. The MATIS, the Matis or Matis hunting trials. This tribe, it's a Brazilian tribe. When they send their boys out to become men and hunt for the first time, they put a bitter poison in their eyes. They're supposed to improve their vision

and enhance their senses. And if that wasn't enough, there's a series of beatings and whippings that take place to make you a man. And then at the end of that, they burn an area of your skin and put this ground up frog goop in with a wooden needle. And it's a poison that's supposed to increase your strength and endurance. So I guess that Western American like light punch to the arm. We got it pretty good. Symbolism of all this other stuff. I'll take that, my friend. But it's true. Boys are treated roughly and definitely more rougher than girls are around the world. Absolutely. Although I saw some of the girls puberty rituals and some of those aren't pretty either. Yeah. Well, we need to cover that. Absolutely. We need to do female circumcision

and female puberty, I guess. Agreed. Those will be coming right up, I'm sure. If you want to know more about male puberty, you can type those words in the search bar at howstuffworks.com. And since I said search bar, it's time for listener mail. I'm going to call this coincidence. We get a lot of these where people experience coincidences related to what they're listening to. And this is from Andrew in Ohio. He said on December 13th, I was on the way home from work. And as I do every morning, I'm sorry, on the way to work, I load you guys up on my phone and I'm taking to some learning adventure. Today's adventure was how broken bones work. So I'm listening and thinking,

you guys start talking about you've never broken a bone before. And I start thinking neither of I and you guys both say knock on wood. Exactly. And I think I don't need to knock wood. It won't happen to me. I get to work still listening walking toward the back of my walking toward the back with a box in my hand. I trip on the carpet, fall and punch the ground with my right hand. Yeah. He broke his pinky bone clean into sort of where the palm of the hand is, like the bone just below the pinky. And he sent me a picture and it was just snapped like a twig. And the break was so bad, I had to have surgery to put two screws and a plate in to hold the bone together as it healed. As of now, I'm pretty much healed up. I've lost some

feeling in the pinky, some range of motion, but I can say I've got a titanium plate in my hand. So I feel like it's a trade off for get iron man. I am titanium plate and man, which he says is a working name. So he said, thanks a lot guys. If you happen to read this, please shout out to my fiance, Allie Spence. We're getting married in June at 20th and I couldn't be more excited. So that is Andrew Hall of Wooster, Ohio. So congratulations, Allie and Andrew. Yeah, congratulations guys. Watch where you're going, buddy. Yeah. And don't tempt fate, man. Nope. I don't need to knock wood. Look what happens. If you want to let us know how superstition bit you, we want to hear about it. You can tweet to us at syskpodcast. You can

join us on facebook.com slash stuff you should know. You can send us an email to stuffpodcast. at howstuffworks.com. And as always, join us at our home on the web, stuff you should know.com. with Chris Harrison. During two decades in reality TV, Chris saw it all. And now he's telling all. It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope. We have a lot to talk about. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Munga Chauticular and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to believe. You can find it in major league baseball, international banks, kpop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had

a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.