Centruy* (for Century*)

Although autumn is my favourite season, it always makes me think of mortality: the shortening days, the leaves falling and decomposing, squirrels gathering seeds as if the world is ending, and my own aching back after raking leaves. Autumn does feel like it’s about finality.

So I was amused when I came across a study from the University of Chicago in 2011 that suggests people born in the fall actually live longer. Researchers looked at people who lived to be 100, and compared the birth months of those who lived a full century to those who died younger. They found that people born in the fall (September, October, or November) had a higher chance of becoming a centenarian.

As a September baby myself, I quite like this finding: perhaps it means I will live to see flying cars invented, or an elevator to the moon. 

Leanne Olson


(Photo of Baltimore graveyard in autumn by Huw Williams, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)