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Does the month you were born in determine whether you’re right handed, or a smoker, or short-sighted? No, we’re not talking astrology, but something called the seasonal birth effect. But can even that be trusted? Subscribe: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe
The seasonal birth effect is the idea that the development of certain characteristics is linked to the time of year a person is born. Various studies have linked time of birth to a gaggle of characteristics, from handedness to disease susceptibility.
The theory goes that environmental differences during winter and summer pregnancies cause physiological changes that impact early development. For example, increased exposure to sunlight during a summer pregnancy may cause an increase in oxidative stress, which in turn could lead to slight tweaks to the internal conditions for the developing baby.
But do these studies that claim to have found a link between x trait and y season prove that your birthday dictates your development? No. All it means is that in those specific data sets, the researchers managed to find a link. That doesn’t mean it applies universally, and it definitely doesn’t mean the one is necessarily causing the other. You are not defined by your birthday.
This film is part of our new series that will provide the blueprint for a scientifically perfect summer. From sweating to hay fever, insects to jet lag, Kate Mulcahy will help you hack summer to engineer the perfect season. Taking a different topic each Thursday, the videos will gradually build up an equation for summer perfection; a summer survival guide certified by science.
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References:
Riala, K. et al. (2009) Season of birth and smoking: findings from the northern Finland 1966 birth cohort. Chronobiology International 26(8): 1660-1672
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/07420520903534484
Marzulo, G. and Clarke Fraser, F. (2009) Conception season and cerebral asymmetries among American baseball players: Implications for the seasonal birth effect in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research 167(3): 287-293
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2008.02.002
Mandel, Y. et al. (2008) Season of birth, natural light, and myopia. Ophthalmology 115(4): 686-692
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.05.040
Davies. G. et al. (2003) A systematic review and meta-analysis of Northern Hemisphere season of birth studies in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 29 (3): 587-593
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a007030
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Completely opposite. Non smoker, 20/20 vision, left handed with mental health issues…just turned 38 this month.
The MMR jab as a kid probably has a greater bearing than the season you're born in.
Very interesting topic. Cute redhead too.
Then why make this video?
Curious whether there are cultural differences in seasonal birth effects too
Does it have exactly opposite statistics in Australia and other Southern hemisphere countries? And significantly more short sighted at near equators and more left handed people at Siberia? Then we could start correlate seasonal weather difference and human characteristics. I highly doubt it tho.
What if your winter/spring constantly switches
<left handed schizo smoker whose b-day is the same as Jesus Christ in the book of Urantia !!!
WHAT ABOUT SPRING AND FALL
this is stupid, i am born in summer and i am left handed, am a non-smoker and am long sighted??? this is the complete opposite
well I'm nearsighted and left-handed born in December
July 24 is my bday 🙂
Well, I'm left handed and I was born in July smh
I'm born in December and I'm left handed OMG!
im born in December and im both handed
People that live near or on the equator are exposed to sunlight all the time, are they suggesting there are more short sighted pregnancies using that logic. Some places do not even have seasons at all.
All the left handed people I know are realllly confident. It's fun being around them :3
September 24 is my birthday (tommorow)
Me and my brother are both left handed and our parents are both right handed. I was born in April and my brother was born in August.
im right hand and i was born in december ;-;
DECEMBER
Not say this is necessarily the case, but epigenetics says that abiotic factors such as seasonal food weather ect. Has the ability to change gene expression. Back in the day food and was much more seasonal due to lack of refrigeration. You also couldn't out run the winter as easily as you could today. Perhaps the early civilizations made a connection to seasonal birth effect and incorporated it into there cosmological model.