Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Apparently your birth month says a lot about your health, even if it can't predict that you're going to meet a tall dark stranger...

I've never really been a believer in horoscopes.

I know, coming from a Pagan that's pretty rich, but there you have it.  I've always looked at them in the same way I look at fortune cookies ... fun, but not something I'm going to be basing any major life decisions on.

Still, I might just have to eat my words if this study [link] is anything to go on.  Scientists are saying that there might be a connection between what month you were born in and what sort of diseases and conditions you're susceptible to.

And we're not just talking about one crackpot in a labcoat who surveyed fifty people and called it a day, there are over 200 studies dating back to the 1920's that all support the theory.  I have to admit my first reaction when I read the article was to scoff, but when I thought about it from a scientific perspective it does make a strange kind of sense.  Different conditions, different climates, different temperatures, I suppose they must all have some sort of an impact on an unborn child.


You poor people who were born in April ... I'm so sorry.  You definitely come out worse on this particular survey.  Of the fifteen different categories, you guys are susceptible to eleven of them.  But on the plus side, at least you miss out on Alzheimers, Down's Syndrome, Epilepsy and Schizophrenia, so that's nice I suppose.  In comparison, if you're born in September, October or November you only have one category to worry about.

Lucky bastards.

I'm a May baby, so I seem to fare better than some of the other months.  I rarely drink so alcohol abuse is unlikely, and autism and childhood diabetes are already off the table.  I suppose I'm still in the running for eating disorders, glaucoma, and Parkinson's Disease, but I'm pretty optimistic of my chances.

As for the personality disorders ... no comment.

26 comments:

  1. This is really interesting.

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  2. None holds true for our family.... I say throw the damn chart away.

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  3. September folks in the Northern Hemisphere are good to go!

    The interesting part is that it appears that the Northern and Southern Hemisphere illnesses go along with the the seasons - MS incidents are 6 months apart from each other, meaning early summer months.

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  4. This explains so much in my family. No wonder my September born son is the golden child and my March born kid is so messed up. Me, as a December baby, I'm just hopin' the schizophrenia gets me sooner rather than later so I can blame his faults on my disease rather than my poor parenting skills.

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  5. lucky me. I live in the northern hemisphere so I miss everything.

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  6. Really interesting survey..I feel bad for the people born in between april to june..I guess they have to suffer more according to the chart...I am a january baby...I don't know about anything else but I feel sickly over the Alzheimer's disease..let's see when it's going to snare me..! :/

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  7. Oh my gooooodness, you've just given me a whole new set of things to worry about! I was born in April!!!! WHYYYYY!

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  8. I'm a November baby, so I guess that's something to feel thankful for.

    But still -- not that I'm all gloom and doom, but it's a certainty that something will get me. After all, "good health" is really just "dying at a slower rate."

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  9. I'm in the northern hemisphere & I was born in September & no one considers ME normal...!!

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  10. Good grief you took the words outta my mouth! I'm an April child and too many of those are ringing true. I'm grateful, for sure, for what did give me a miss! ;)
    These horoscopes LIE too, truly - only last week mine stated that love would come knockin' at my door. Fibbers...... ;)

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  11. Not one mention of Cancer! Hmmm, that one surprised me.

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  12. I was born in June and I'm both autistic and schizophrenic. These scientists were dead on, unlike the bastards who experimented on those kitties you talked about earlier.

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  13. I'm May and I clearly have a personality disorder, there's two of me in the one head!

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  14. I'm a Scorpio (November) and based on this chart I should be a lot more healthy than I am. Of course I should spend more time trying to be healthy in the first place.

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  15. Oh, great! Now I have to worry about catching the schizophrenia!

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  16. Another September person, who really wonders about the accuracy of the chart.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!

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  17. YES! I was born in September and I'm an alcoholic! That means I'm an outlier, right!?! YES! Suck it, Gladwell!
    I'm getting the feeling that being an outlier isn't a blessing.

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  18. I was born in February. I have or have had a couple of these, uh, problems. No doubt the Alzheimer's will show up soon enough.

    Love,
    Janie

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  19. This is fascinating! (I suppose if I wasn't an October birthday that might read more like "terrifying")

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  20. I like that chart, although... I DO have a personality disorder and December does not show it to be one of those months. I knew I was special, geesh. (totally kidding, really)

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  21. I was a little worried when I saw all the blue marks for June, but like you many of them would have presented by now so there wasn't much left to be worried about. Interesting chart, even though I share your opinion that horoscopes are like fortune cookies!

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  22. I have dodged all the bullets that come from being born in December thus far. I guess I can still become schizophrenic but if so it better arrive soon. I am not getting any younger.

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  23. I was born in the Northern Hemisphere in Nov, so not too bad for me. Except I live in the Southern Hemisphere now. This is interesting.

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  24. I'm an April baby and I've only had the eating disorder and cancer. :/

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  25. As long as I don't move to someplace south of the equator, I'm good to go. It certainly explains my sister, though...

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