--- title: How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life description: In this week's TIME cover story, author Annie Murphy Paul writes: "What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7144118/how-the-first-nine-months-shape-the-rest-of-your-life/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-09-24T12:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:32:55.605Z article:section: Health og:title: How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life og:description: In this week's TIME cover story, author Annie Murphy Paul writes: "What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7144118/how-the-first-nine-months-shape-the-rest-of-your-life/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6da03f37ab4ee3d8/698a9553cabb1d0f46e5a8b6/wfetal_1004.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: wfetal_1004 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life twitter:description: In this week's TIME cover story, author Annie Murphy Paul writes: "What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6da03f37ab4ee3d8/698a9553cabb1d0f46e5a8b6/wfetal_1004.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 24, 2010 12:00 PM UTC  Heide Benser / Corbis by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 24, 2010 12:00 PM UTC In this week’s [TIME cover story](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html), author Annie Murphy Paul writes: “What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be anxious, overweight or asthmatic? How is it that some of us are prone to heart attacks, diabetes or high blood pressure?”more From the article, adapted from Paul’s forthcoming book _Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives_ (Sept. 2010, Free Press):[](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html#ixzz10Px8xQPL) --- > “” --- Read the article [here](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html). **More on Time.com:** [Why It’s Harder For Older Women to Have Healthy Babies](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/22/why-its-harder-to-have-healthy-babies-the-older-you-get/) [Diagnosing Postpartum Depression with a Brain Scan](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/15/diagnosing-post-partum-depression/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144118/how-the-first-nine-months-shape-the-rest-of-your-life/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144118/how-the-first-nine-months-shape-the-rest-of-your-life/"},"headline":"How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life","datePublished":"2010-09-24T12:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:32:55.605Z","description":"In this week's TIME cover story, author Annie Murphy Paul writes: \"What makes us the way we are? 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