Do this little experiment.
- Look at the records of 1,676,217 births in the United States that occurred around Valentines Day (1 wk before through 1 wk after).
- Compare these birth records to 1,809,304 births in the United States that occurred around Halloween Day (1 wk before through 1 wk after).
Do this for 11 years. Then look at the data and something totally weird appears (Study is here).
What Happens On Valentines Day
There was a sudden increase of 3.6% in the number of spontaneous births, and a 12.1% increase in planned births (cesarean births).
For some reason, on that holiday itself, regardless of whether moms were overdue, not yet due, or hitting their due date on the nose, 3.6% more were born.
What Happens On Halloween Day
Exactly the opposite effect. A large and sudden drop in spontaneous births occurred on that day, to the tune of 5.3%!
Something about this day made it less likely that moms would birth a baby, regardless of where they were in their final trimester. The decrease in planned births was much larger too (16.9%).
I totally understand the “planned birth” aspect. Unless you have toxemia or other emergency situation, having a c-section is likely going through the new baby drive-thru (my son was a c-section baby). So if you get to choose the birth date of your child, Halloween is associated with negative Jason, Elm Street nightmare connotations … and Valentines Day is associated with hearts and flowers and Be Mine candies and plump little cherubic archers.
You vote NAY on the scary day and YEA on the day of love.
But the spontaneous birth thing? Why on Earth would it be that something as arbitrary like the positive vs negative connotation our culture arbitrarily assigned to two holidays make a difference?
The numbers here are so large that you have to assume that the effect is real (p < 0.0001 for you research statistics nerds). My guess is that even subtle emotions can be powerful — powerful enough to hasten or hinder something as seemingly inevitable as the onset of a baby. In other words, our subjective feelings have objective consequences making them just as valid, just as real, just as compellingly consequential as a new born baby.
Totally surprising. And yet also, not really that surprising at all.
