Skip to main content

Diseases linked to birth month says circadian neuroscientist


Professor Russell Foster, a circadian neuroscientist from the University of Oxford in England, says that conditions such as asthma, autism, and schizophrenia may be linked to a mother’s exposure to sunlight during pregnancy, thereby creating the link between a child’s birth month and the medical conditions the child is likely to contract. It’s all related to vitamin D exposure.

Circadian rhythms have long been studied in shift workers – how the 24-hour a day cycle of light and darkness affects work functionality. It’s often been called the “body clock” and linked, not only to shift work, but also to jetlag and crossing time zones. Professor Foster’s study examines sunlight’s effect on pregnant women, and ultimately their children.

How long a person lives and the extent of their health could be linked to the month of your birth. Babies born in spring appear to be at greater risk than those born in autumn.

On a month by month basis (of a person’s birth in the northern hemisphere), circadian neuroscience suggests that the following conditions are at higher risk of occurring. For people born in the southern hemisphere, the seasonal patterns shift by six months (shown in brackets).

January (July) – bipolar, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy

February (August) – bipolar, eating disorder, schizoaffective disorders, Hodgkin disease, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and narcolepsy

March (September) – Schizoaffective disorders, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), personality disorder, eating disorder, bipolar, autism, alcoholism, Hodgkin disease, childhood diabetes, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and narcolepsy

April (October) – SAD, personality disorder, eating disorder, bipolar, autism, alcoholism, Hodgkin disease, glaucoma, childhood diabetes, asthma, low IQ, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, narcolepsy, and Parkinson’s disease

May (November) – personality disorder, eating disorder, autism, alcoholism, glaucoma, childhood diabetes, asthma, low IQ, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease

June (December) – autism, alcoholism, glaucoma, childhood diabetes, asthma, Down’s syndrome, low IQ, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease

July (January) - autism, alcoholism, asthma, Down’s syndrome, and motor neuron disease

August (February) – autism, asthma, Down’s syndrome, and motor neuron disease

September (March) – asthma

October (April) – asthma

November (May) – asthma

December (June) – schizophrenia, and Crohn’s disease

If the circadian neuroscientists are correct, family planning is likely to increase!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou