Summer babies and biting bugs

If your birthday is around now, you may not be surprised to know that there are more babies born in the summer in the USA than any other season.

The amount of light in your birth season shapes summer babies’ lives in subtle but powerful ways… 

1.  Longer days mean they’re more likely to be evening types in later life – Season of birth, gender, and social-cultural effects on sleep timing preferences in humans

2.  They tend to see the sunny side, thanks to higher dopamine levels linked to bright light – Season of birth may have long-term effects on personality, study suggests , The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind by Wiseman, Richard (January 1, 2004) Paperback

3.  They may struggle to focus at school- potentially linked to less vitamin D during pregnancy – ‘Cause there ain’t no cure for summertime behaviour

4.  Summer girls have more grey matter (boys have less)-  linked to early light exposure and the body clock –  The effect of season of birth on brain epigenome-wide DNA methylation of older adults , Prediction of individual season of birth using MRI

5.  Babies born in summer tend to be smaller – but those conceived in the summer are bigger and healthier – Within-mother analysis of seasonal patterns in health at birth

6.  But it may be ‘too darned hot’ – sperm motility, concentration and volume all fall when the mercury goes up! –  The Impact of High Ambient Temperature on Human Sperm Parameters: A Meta-Analysis

Waiting for the cool of the evening to get in the mood could be the answer.  Lighting could help to keep those biting bugs at bay.

This fascinating paper tried out different types of light traps to see which ones biting insects liked the least. The results varied slightly by insect type and other factors including climate but as a general rule, dim light sources with short wavelengths and low contrast – or tone on tone proved less attractive to biting insects than cool, bright high-contrast traps.

The paper notes that the flicker frequency of fluorescents may also be an attraction.

If you’re not too squeamish about these pesky blood-suckers, you may find the analysis of how their visual system works as fascinating as I did! – Artificial light and biting flies: the parallel development of attractive light traps and unattractive domestic lights

I’ve bought one of these cheap bug boxes – a simple plastic box with a magnifier in the lid –  you may never love mosquitoes, but they’re fascinating to watch close up –  Magnification Box