Why aren’t babies born on certain days?

Do you know anyone whose birthday is Christmas Day? You may know a few, but
actually, having a birthday on that day is quite rare.

December 25th is the least common birthday in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Between 30% and 40% fewer babies are born on this day than on the peak days. In
England, Wales and Ireland, Christmas Day is the second rarest day for a birthday. There,
the fewest birthdays are on December 26th, the national holiday called Boxing Day.
Other festival dates are also uncommon. In the USA, the four least common birthdays are
Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving and Independence Day.

So why does this happen? Actually, there is a very logical reason. A third of babies in the
USA are born by caesarean. Obviously, doctors can plan the date for these operations.
They don’t schedule them for the national holidays because they want to be celebrating,
not working. Also, if babies don’t arrive on time, doctors give the mothers drugs to make
them give birth. However, they probably won’t do this during holidays.

Interestingly, though, there are relatively few birthdays on April 1st in England, Wales
and New Zealand. It’s not a national holiday, so doctors carry out operations as usual.
But in those countries, this day is called April Fool’s Day. Traditionally people play jokes
and trick other people on this day. Maybe mothers avoid giving birth then because they
are worried that people will bully or play jokes on their child.

Some times of year are more common for birthdays than others. In the USA and New
Zealand, the most popular month is September. In the UK, it’s September or early
October. The reason for this is because many babies are conceived in the cold, winter
months when days are short. Australia, where it is warm in February and March, doesn’t
show this pattern. In countries further north than the UK, like Norway and Russia, the
peak months are earlier: in July or August.

Think about your birthday. Is it at a common time of year? Would you prefer your
birthday to be at a different time of year?

What is wearable technology?

Wearable technology, or “wearables”, is the name for the type of electronic devices we
can wear as accessories, implanted in our clothing or even in our body. Wearables are
hands-free gadgets with microprocessors and a connection to the internet.

Wearables have existed for hundreds of years. Pocket watches, which later became
wristwatches, or glasses were some of the first examples in the history of wearable
technology. People wore them to have a more comfortable life, and we still do! Glasses
help you see, and watches give you helpful information. But modern wearable devices
are more complicated. They are electronic, and they use the internet to collect, store and
send different kinds of information.

The first popular electronic wearable technology was Fitness trackers, like ‘Fitbits’,
which became popular in the 2010s. They monitor your heart and movement and help
you keep fit. Now, wearable technology helps people stay healthy in new ways. For
example, the ‘iTBra’ is a patch. Women wear it inside their bras, and it checks for breast
cancer. ‘Heartguide’ looks like a smartwatch, but it can measure blood pressure. It can
also track information about a person’s lifestyle, for example, how much they exercise.
Then it shares this information with a doctor so that the doctor can give better advice.
‘SmartSleep’ is a soft headband. It helps people to sleep better. It collects information
about people’s sleep patterns, gives advice and makes sounds to help people fall asleep.

However, not all wearables are about health. Some are used for protection or to find the
place you want to go, and some are just for fun. For example, you can hug someone from
miles away with a smart jacket! You can also buy smart jewellery. These rings and
necklaces can change colour to match clothes or make-up, or they can send the police an
alert if you are in danger. And with a smart hat, you can listen to music and answer calls
without using headphones!

Texting while walking is dangerous

Writing text messages and walking is dangerous. It is more dangerous than driving and
texting. More people get injured while walking than driving. Walking in a straight line is
not easy. We can forget how to walk properly. Dangerous things can happen. We run into
people or cars. We fall over things in the street.
There are a few reasons why texting and walking is dangerous. People cannot see when
they look at their keyboard. Their minds are somewhere else – they are not thinking about
walking safely. Thousands of people have accidents. Some have serious head injuries.

Too much jogging could be a problem!

Running is good for our health. A recent study says that running too much is bad for us
and it doesn’t always make our lives longer. A specialist said too much running can
damage your heart. Long-distance runners and people who never exercise can have the
same risk of having a heart
attack.

Experts looked at the health of 3,300 runners. Most of them ran over 30 kilometres a
week. Marathon runners had hard parts in their heart. A doctor who started running in
1967 is sad. He ran 60 kilometres every week. He thought his heart was strong. Now he
has heart problems. He said we should exercise, but not too much