AS AN especially glorious autumn draws to a close, we pass along some observations about the rhythms of nature and those of human biology:
"If we are to believe poets and songwriters, spring is the time for love -- and sex. Nature tells us something different, however. Our sexiest season is fall, not spring. Testosterone levels in both men and women reach their yearly peak in late summer and fall. Testosterone is one of the androgens, or so-called male hormones, that have a direct effect on sexual behavior. They are present in women as well as in men, although in smaller quantities.
"It's no surprise, then, that most babies are born in summer and early fall -- about nine months after the autumn peak in testosterone. Nature may have intended it this way to ensure that the weather and food supply would be amenable to delivering and nourishing a newborn baby.
"Social customs can throw these natural seasonal birth rhythms askew, however. In predominantly Catholic countries, for example, where couples are encouraged to abstain from sex during Lent, births tend to peak in early winter -- about nine months after the Easter season.
"So, be on the alert in fall. It appears to be a particularly easy time of the year to get swept into a passionate romance -- a romance you may later, under the influence of winter's 'cooler' rhythms, regret."
-- from "The Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal," by Susan Perry and Jim Dawson.