This site is designed to support and expand the Hillendale Health Curriculum.
	Learning about how your body grows and develops and how to take care of your body is an important part of Hillendale Health class. Our growth and development unit focuses on the changes that occur during adolescence and puberty. The following pages contain Important information about puberty and adolescence.

Do boys and girls share other similar changes besides the growth spurt? Yes, boys and girls share similar changes and some unique ones too. Both boys and girls will begin to perspire more because your sweat glands are more active during puberty. The body's oil glands are becoming active, too. This means that the skin on your face, chest and back may become oily. A lot of kids notice that they have a new smell under their arms and elsewhere on their bodies when they enter puberty, and it's not a pretty one. That smell is body odor (you may have heard people call it B.O. for short), and everyone gets it. The combination of extra oil and sweat can lead to a smelly situation if you don't make an extra effort to keep your body clean. I guess this is where they got the PU in PUberty. Keeping clean can stop you from smelling. You should take a shower every day, either in the morning before school or the night before. And it's a good idea to use deodorant (or deodorant with antiperspirant) every day, too. Does everyone get pimples during puberty? Another thing that comes with puberty is acne, or pimples. Both boys and girls might get them and then again some teens are hardly bothered by them. Acne is caused by hormones that are released during puberty. Pimples usually start around the beginning of puberty and can hang around for a few years as your body changes. You may notice pimples on your face, your upper back, or your upper chest. It helps to keep your skin clean, and a dermatologist (skin doctor) can offer some suggestions for controlling acne if it starts to get too bad. The good news about acne is that it usually gets a lot better or disappears by the end of adolescence. What is that new growth of hair that happens during puberty? One of the first signs of puberty is hair growing where it didn't grow before. Boys and girls both begin to grow hair under their arms and in their pubic areas on and around the genitals. It starts out looking light and sparse. Then as you progress through puberty, it becomes longer, thicker, heavier, and darker. Eventually, boys also start to grow hair on their faces. Table of Contents Puberty | Contents | Glossary | Phys Ed | Health | Site Map | HES Index | Being Born Male Reproductive System | Female Reproductive System | Review