While spring and summer are my favorite seasons, Autumn isn’t really that bad. After all, it’s a time for football, chili cookouts, boots, cozy sweaters, hoodies and leggings and eleven other things you will never believe! Keep reading for Autumn fun facts totally worth knowing…
DID YOU KNOW:
1. Levels of testosterone in both men and women are at their highest in the fall. Scientists speculate the surge may be a result of ancient mating instincts (e.g., the fall “rutting season”) or that decreasing daylight somehow triggers it.
2. According to NASA, autumn is “aurora season” because geomagnetic storms are about twice as frequent as the annual average during the fall.
3. Cooler temperatures and less light during the autumn months signals the tree’s leaves to stop producing chlorophyll, or the green pigment that helps capture sunlight to power photosynthesis. As the green fades, the leave’s other pigments shine through.
4. Red and purple leaves are caused by the presence of sugars from sap that is trapped inside of the leaves.
5. The word “harvest” comes from the Old Norse word, haust, which means “to gather or pluck.” As people moved to the cities, “harvest” fell out of use and city dwellers began to use “fall of the leaf,” which was shortened to “fall.
6. The shorter days and cooler nights tell the animals to begin storing food in their nest/dens and fat on their body, before winter’s death freeze arrives.
7. Research suggests that low levels of vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) can lead to weight gain during autumn and winter. Lack of vitamin D reduces fat breakdown and triggers fat storage. Take a supplement before even consider sunbathing. It’s safer, faster and healthier.
8. Autumn holidays include Labor Day, Grandparents Day, Patriot Day, Autumn Equinox, Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Remembrance Day and Thanksgiving.
9. Each autumn, monarch butterflies migrate from the U.S. to Mexico and some parts of Southern California. They fly at speeds of 12 to 25 miles per hour. Monarchs are the only insect that migrates during the winter to a warmer climate… 2,500 miles away!
10. The autumn equinox, or the ‘First Day Of Fall’ signals the aurora borealis–the Northern Lights–geomagnetic storms are twice as likely to occur during the fall due to cool evening weather.
11. The pumpkin or should I say, Pepon, which means ‘large melon’, was first named by the Greeks,”
FYI: How a Pumpkin grows!
What’s your favorite thing about Autumn, Fall, Harvest?
