A study has been released that explains in part why most babies are born at night. Apparently, it is an issue that is shared with primate species; since these animals usually give birth also at night.
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A study published by the journal Biology Letters
Several scientists tried to explain the reasons for births at night and early in the morning. The solution was sought in the similarity between primates and humans, which is not only at the genetic level.
Primates and humans have certain analogous habits. Apparently, there are important reasons why a birth is better when there is no heat or light, because the mother’s body undergoes some changes when giving birth.
These primates also exhibit a birthing statistic at the end of the day, when the sun was gone. In addition, it was interesting to verify temperature measurements in primate mothers, which is the key to this work.
A study on vervet monkeyskind of Africa
The animals were monitored in detail. When a female became pregnant, there was a lot of attention on her behavior. The best data was obtained thanks to thermal cameras and some specimens in custody.
– The results showed that the temperature of the females dropped during childbirth, to rise again after the birth of the baby.
– A lower temperature causes the arteries to narrow, increasing the pressure and the way blood is pumped. This seems to help the effort to push the fetus.
– The low temperature prevents inflammation and minimizes pain. Therefore, they are conditions that help the female to tolerate childbirth.
– Therefore, the night time is the most suitable for maintaining a comfortable temperature for a woman’s body when giving birth. This is obtained by comparing the cases of female primates and homo sapiens.
This would explain the reason why 71.8% of human births occur at night. It is a sort of accommodation of the female body, which initiates the birth at a time of favorable temperature.
A hypothesis that still needs further study
What has been described above is still not entirely reliable. More analysis is needed, but at least it is a clue about the pattern and timing of human births. It is also the beginning of other studies on this subject.
In recent times, it so happens that the COVID lockdown has caused a dramatic drop in births around the world. Therefore, it is believed that human births can alter their pattern
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What are our readers born to? Possibly, those who read these lines have in their birth certificates reflected a night time or early morning.
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