Not astrology, psychiatry

Several psychiatry and psychology teams have found a possible link between the season you were born in and how you habitually feel, act and react.

366 students, five temperaments

At Semmelweis University in Hungary, a team led by Xenia Gonda surveyed 366 students, scoring hyperthymic, cyclothymic, irritable, anxious and depressive temperaments by questionnaire.

“L'objectif de notre étude était d'examiner l'association entre les tempéraments affectifs et la saison de naissance”

Everything moved but anxiety

Every temperament varied with birth season except the anxious one. Other work found mood swings more pronounced in people born in spring and summer than in autumn or winter.

Four seasonal profiles

Spring leans hyperthymic, high baseline mood and steady energy. Summer adds cyclothymic swings on a positive floor. Autumn shows less depressive pull than winter. Winter births are the least irritable.

Light, dopamine, serotonin

The proposed mechanism is photoperiod. Light and temperature in the first days of life may tune dopamine and serotonin production, leaving a mark on emotional circuits that lasts into adulthood.

A tint, not a verdict

These are associations with modest effects, drawn from small student samples in temperate climates. Genes, upbringing, culture and life experience still build the rest of you.

“La saison de naissance n'explique pas tout, elle colore un terrain émotionnel de fond”