: l

This explains a few things....

?????????

This may make sense for people born where the sun is dismal at best during the afernoon. However, if people are born in warm places like Florida, the Carribean Islands, mexico etc. even the winter sun is very bright ... hot even..... so what is the impact on those findings???

Glad for the research being done in this field. What is the recommended solution? Can timed exposure doses of intense light in the winter be an antidote?

I think it's something that would have a lot of variables. I have a child born in each of the seasons (literally, almost to the day 3 months apart). What if the parents are night owls (by choice or not)? What if they leave lights on? Warm climate vs. generally "gray" climate (my youngest moved to Seattle area at 3 months, after being born in late October in CA). It's a start - but needs a LOT more work.

I was born in December and I'm o.k. so far except for hating 50 hr. work weeks.

So, Astrology is real, to some extent.

Wouldn't like that much myself, rufusthedog. :)

Interesting article. Gives food for thought.

Lower Vit D levels can harm health...especially breast fed..they have vit d drops for infants. SPF 15 and higher block out 98% of rays for vit d...you need sun with out lotion on.

My grandmother was born in February, grandfather in January. In Germany(quite dismal and cold during winter). They raised children through two world wars. Never knew them to suffer any psychological illnesses. That is of the chronic variety. I do believe living in certain parts of the world such as the north sea and arctic areas probably does effect people, however, still believe it's mostly in the genes.

We already know that schizophrenia runs in families, so why not spend all this research on chronic diseases such as hiv, cancer, etc. ?

So What's new???? There is a plethora of conditions related to environmental influences and the impact on the human psyche. Come up with something new schmucks.

What about spring and Fall? The study has to be biased if the other two seasons are not concidered. Are you Quoting that persons born in Texas don't have psych problems, compared to persons born in Alaska? I lived in Alaska, hated the long 22 hour long winter nights. But the 22 hour long summers were okay. I was born in Febuary.

I always wince reading these articles on news sites. I have to point out a couple of things here.

First, I'm confused about how the study's findings about sleep/wake cycles relates to mental illness. Early in the article, something was mentioned about a link between being born in the winter and being diagnosed with mental illnesses, but where does that come into this study, and where was that from, period? SOURCE YOUR ARTICLE, geez. (On a side note, I was born in February and am perfectly mentally sound, but my brother was born in June and has several serious mental illnesses. So anecdotally - for what that's worth - that would suggest that birth season has far less influence than, say, luck of genetics.)

Second, I really just can't stand how these sorts of very limited studies get people to proclaim "oh well THAT explains it" or interpret these conclusions as much stronger than they are. There is a link. In mice. That's it. It doesn't mean there is necessarily the asme sort of influence in humans, that it is necessarily so prevalent, and certainly doesn't take into account large amounts of genetic variation of individuals (NOT widely found in lab mice), and it certainly doesn't take into account lifestyle factors in the way people have them. So people PLEASE stop trying to draw massive far-sweeping conclusions from one little study. The entire scientific community will briefly stop pounding their heads on the wall in thanks.

Although we do not promise to stop lamenting Bad Science Journalism.