As the classic 1984 Van Halen song “Jump” says, you might as well go ahead and jump, especially if it’s World Jump Day. This holiday is observed every July 20th and encourages everyone around the world to jump at the same time.

The primary reason this holiday was first created was to encourage people to jump at the same time so they could change the Earth’s orbit. Supposedly, a changed Earth orbit would help combat global climate change.

While we don’t think this theory holds much water, we do suggest that people get up and jump on this day. Why? Because it’s fun, and it’s good exercise that really gets the heart pumping—that’s why!

The History of World Jump Day

On July 20th, 2006, a German artist from the U.K. known as Torsten Lauschmann invented World Jump Day. He created this holiday and then created a website to promote the day. He stated that his site enlisted over 600 million registered jumpers who were willing to jump at the same time to change the Earth’s orbit.

Lauschmann believed that would change the Earth’s orbit and that it would help reduce global warming. Of course, this didn’t happen, but that didn’t mean that this was the end of this holiday. No, thanks to the Internet, this day continues to live on and is celebrated by people all over the world, not to change the Earth’s orbit but for health reasons now.

Observing World Jump Day

Since none of us are jumping to change the orbit of the planet, we have to think of other ways to celebrate this holiday. And we have a few ideas about that. People can take the time to jump on a trampoline, use a jump rope, or jump into a swimming pool.

People can start the day with jumping jacks or go bungee jumping in the afternoon. Everyone observing this holiday can also spread the news about this glorious holiday simply by using the hashtag #WorldJumpDay on social media.