I love me some Fall! It’s the best time of year. Halloween, pumpkins, and According to BestLife.com, here are some fun Fall facts that will make you super excited for the season.
Fall facts that don’t worry Charlotte! I know…it takes forever for the weather to cool down. Temperatures will be cooler at night, and only in the low 70’s during the day! Here are some fun facts I found to get you into the fall vibe!
Link to the full list of facts: Best Life Online
1. Catching a falling leaf can bring you good luck!
All those falling leaves don’t just look beautiful, they may also bring you good luck. That is if you’re a superstitious person. According to The Encyclopedia of Superstitions, there’s a popular belief that “as many falling leaves as can be caught in the hand in autumn, so many happy months will follow.” Children’s author Alison Uttley writes in her memoir A Year in the Country, “We try to catch a dancing leaf, for every leaf caught is a ‘happy day.'” Whatever the actual timeline, we could all use a little bit more luck.
2. You can catch birds on their migrations south!
The fall is when many bird species make their way to the warmer climes south in preparation for the chilly winter months. While each species follows its own particular path, there are a few popular “flyways” where bird watchers are likely to catch a few flocks on their annual trip. Audubon editor Kenn Kaufman offers seven such hot spots for birds escaping the cold, including Great Salt Lake, Utah (where half a million Wilson’s phalaropes and 1.5 million eared grebes stop to snack on brine shrimp before moving on) or Cape May, New Jersey (where “warblers and other warm-weather songbirds peak in September”).
3. The
In a study published in the 2008 issue of Perception, researchers discovered that men found women more attractive during cooler months than warmer ones, likely due to the “contrast effect.” This theory holds that since men see more of women’s bodies during the warmer months of the year, it takes fewer stimuli to catch their attention once the weather causes them to start layering up.
4. You can spot a harvest moon.
The full moon that occurs during the autumn equinox, when the Earth’s equator most closely lines up with the sun’s center, is noticeably brighter and rises earlier than a typical full moon. Appearing sometime in September or October, this harvest moon can appear almost orange (usually when it’s closest to the horizon), a bit like a giant pumpkin in the sky—very seasonally appropriate! This bright, early moonlight has long been helpful to farmers as they harvest summer crops, hence the name.
5. Chickadees get smarter.
The fall has some odd effects on animals. For the adorably tiny black-capped chickadee, this season causes its hippocampus—the part of the brain that handles spatial organization and memory—to swell about 30 percent. According to Colin Saldanha, assistant professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University, all these new nerve cells help it to collect and hide massive amounts of seeds, that it will rely on during the barren winter months. “Our hypothesis is that this exaggerated growth occurs when the birds need it the most,” he told Science Daily at the time his findings were announced.
6. The Greeks gave autumn a great origin story.
While scientists tell us that fall occurs when the Earth tilts away from the Sun, the ancient Greeks had a much cooler explanation. According to Greek legend, the season is caused by Persephone’s return to the underworld, where she rules as Hades’ queen. Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of fertility and harvest, is so upset that she allows the planet’s crops to wither—until Persephone’s return in the spring.
7. Babies born during the fall are the most active.
Drawing on a massive study from Bristol University on the healthy development of more than 14,000 children born during the 1990s, researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that children delivered in the autumn and winter months were nine percent more active than the average. The study’s lead author suggested to The Guardian that the timing may relate to when autumn-born children begin school: “If you’re born later in the school year, you’re likely to be smaller than your peers and that could disadvantage you in sports and other activities, such as playing,” Calum Mattocks said.
8. It's a great time for rom-coms.
According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, both men and women are more interested in watching romantic movies during the fall than at any other time of the year. The researchers chalk it up to the fact “that physical coldness activates a need for psychological warmth, which in turn leads to an increased liking for romance movies.”
9. Those Halloween fights can be good for your heart.
While you might say that a scare “almost gave me a heart attack,” the opposite may be true. Some medical professionals believe that an innocent scare now and then (say while visiting a haunted house or watching a scary movie) can, in fact, promote heart health. Michael Castine, the cardiologist at Ochsner Medical Center, explained in a blog post that when scared, a person’s adrenaline triggers the blood vessels to contract and re-direct blood toward the heart and lungs, in a “flight or fight” response.
10. It's cobbler season.
Pumpkin pie or apple pie may be the first autumn-appropriate desserts that come to mind when you are planning how to cap off a meal. But fall is also the ideal time to whip up some cobbler. Cobbler, made by putting a sweet fruit filling of apple, apricot, or another fall fruit into a baking dish, topping with delicious batter, and baking to crisp perfection (then topping with a scoop of ice cream, of course) is one of the best ways to warm up in the fall.
11. It's a great time for a campfire.
While some love camping in the summer, the fall, when leaves are changing color and the air is a bit crisper, is arguably the best time to get out in nature, kick up your heels, and keep warm by the light of the campfire. With Halloween approaching, it’s also arguably the best time for spinning some spooky campfire stories.
12. Pumpkin carving is at its peak.
This is the only time of year that you’re likely to see a jack-o-lantern, and fans of this craft have been treated to some increasingly elaborate designs in recent years. Carvers have turned his casual activity into a kind of folk art, and you may not have to travel farther than down the street to see some truly incredible pieces.
13. Way more reasons to write “congrats” on your friends’ Facebook walls.
The fall is when birth rates are at their highest, so you can expect to see an increase in newborn baby pics filling your feed. But according to Facebook’s own data, it’s also the time of year when a higher number of singles update their status to “in a relationship” or “engaged” compared to the yearly average.
14. Johnny Appleseed was a real guy.
You’ve probably heard the story of the dude who walked through large swaths of the American Midwest, planting apple trees as he went. But you probably also assumed he was a character out of folklore. In fact, John Chapman was a real person. For decades he made his way from state to state, installing nurseries and fencing them in to protect them from livestock, then leaving them in the care of locals. Chapman’s generous personality and peculiar preference for sleeping outside helped him become a figure of fascination to many (and the theme of many fall festivals). After his death, his legacy took on mythic proportions, but in life, he was just a guy who really liked planting stuff.
15. Apples really can keep the doctor away.
You’ve no doubt heard the expression that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” The fact is it kind of does. Apples boast a ton of health benefits, from encouraging weight loss to lowering your risk of diabetes to helping your heart and brain. So embrace the fall season by adding a daily apple to your diet.
16. Babies born in the fall are more likely to live to 100.
If you were born in the fall, you have a better chance of celebrating your 100th birthday than those who were born in any other season. In a 2011 study published in the Journal of Aging Research, researchers analyzed the birth months of 1,574 American centenarians and compared them to the birth months of their shorter-lived siblings. The data showed that people born between September and November were more likely to become centenarians.
17. And there are more babies born in September than any other month!
The good news is a proportionately high number of us have a chance of making it to the big 1-0-0 because September is the most common birth month. Specifically, September 9th is the most common birthday for those born between 1994 and 2014. For people born between 1973 and 1999, the most common birthday is September 16th, according to The New York Times.
18. There's a distinct
Whether you can describe it or not, everyone knows fall has a distinct scent. And, according to meteorologist Matthew Cappucci, the smell is partially due to the leaves. “When the leaves fall, they die,” he wrote for The Washington Post. “As they take their last breath, they ‘exhale’ all sorts of gases.” Cappucci says those gasses smell “a bit like chlorine or the exhaust of a dryer vent.”
19. The Northern Lights are stronger in the fall.
The Northern Lights are a spectacular sight, but this natural phenomenon is particularly special in the fall. And that’s thanks to the autumnal equinox when the sun crosses the Earth’s equator line.
20. And you'll be able to spot Mercury in the sky this fall.
According to earthsky.org, Mercury is visible at dusk throughout September, along with Jupiter and Saturn. The farther north you are, however, the more difficult it will be to see it.
21. Falling back for daylight saving time leads to fewer heart attacks.
Daylight saving time (DST) may be difficult to adjust to, but it could be a major bonus for your physical health. A 2008 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the rate of heart attacks fell on the Monday after the end of DST in the fall. On the flip side, heart attacks spiked during the three days following DST’s start in the spring.
22. More relationships bloom in the fall.
If you’re not already in a relationship, then you might want to look for a significant other during autumn, which is otherwise known as cuffing season. Vogue explains that “cuffing season is actually the period of time between fall and the dead of winter when people start searching for someone with whom they can spend those long, frigid months.”
23. And it's also the
Fall is the time to get frisky! Turns out, people tend to naturally be in the mood to get a little closer in the autumn. “Human physiology indicates that we are also seasonal breeders,” evolutionary psychologist Nigel Barber, PhD, wrote on Psychology Today.
24. There's a whole new set of seasonal fruits and vegetables to eat different kinds of apples, crazy facts.
Sure, summer is great for its strawberries, cucumbers, and melon. But fall brings with it a whole new set of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
25. There are more than 7,500 varieties of apples in the world.
When you go apple picking, you probably notice that the apples are organized by type. And while we’re sure your local orchard has a wide variety of fruits, it’s probably nothing compared to the total number of apple varieties worldwide. According to the University of Illinois, there are 7,500 varieties of apples in the world and 2,500 varieties in the United States.
