What actually does a full moon do to some people
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What actually does a full moon do to some people
Order of Kilopi
A full moon has shown to have no effects on humans. This is just a urban myth.
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I am currently doing a science project on this phenomenon (sp?). I am dealing with car crashes relating to the phases of the moon. I have not yet completed caculating the statistics, but looking at the graph of the raw data there seems to be no correlation. IMO people just notice the full moon more and therefore assosciate things with it. For example if somebody was acting crazy and then you walk out side and it is a full moon you would notice due to the size and brightness and then make the connection. But in the same situation you walked outside and it was say a New moon would you even notice? most likely not, therefore IMO the full moon only gets this representation becuase it is noticed more.Originally Posted by Heroin
of course "you" referred to no one imparticular, i just type (and talk) in the second person a lot.
does that sound plausible?
-ST
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It certainly has no physical effect, but there are probably psychological (sp?) effects from people thinking that there is an actual physical effect. :wink:
It's one of those things where people associate "strange" events with a full moon because, as Humphrey mentioned, they believe in those myths. Rest assured, "strange" events happen all the time, not just during a full moon. The full moon just gives them a way to reference that "strange" event.
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Bah! SpaceTrekkie beat me to it! #-o
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Ok this was a fluff post..but i need to up my post count
Back to the topic!
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I got the chance to semisortascientifically analyze things to find out once and for all.
Yesnomaybepossibleperhaps?
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"There's more to the Internet than porn"?
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Why did nobody tell me!"There's more to the Internet than porn"?
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Its why the left handed mouse was invented....apparently =;Why did nobody tell me!"There's more to the Internet than porn"?
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I believe it originated back before mass artificial city lighting. When it was a full moon (or close to it), people were more likely to roam the streets in cities and in the countryside at night since they could see more. Hence larger numbers of public mishaps and a sudden correlation of high numbers of "crazy" people with the full moon.
The urban myth is just an extension of this deeply engrained "fact".
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Does it?
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Actually, I don't believe that Full Moon or New Moon phase has any effect on humans. I agree with Humphrey that it is likely an urban myth.
However, I have a psychiatrist friend who has said on more than one occasion that during the period of a NM or FM (two or three days) he saw some in-patients acted very uneasy, emotionally unstable and perturbed. The symptoms subsided after about the 2nd or 3rd day after the lunar phase. According to him, these patients were totally confined to a room and didn't know day vs. night. No change in medication was made and no change to their lifestyle was made.
He used to say that that behaviour by his patients made him think.
Well, this friend of mine didn't believe in that there was an effect of NM or FM on humans either.
Order of Kilopi
Well we have talked about how much effect the moon had on earth before. Most notibally in my memory was the discussions on the apogee and perigee on volcanoes and eruptions.
But the phase of the moon should not matter at all. All it means is how much in the earth's shadow the moon is. Sure there is a distance factor in there, but it should not be enougth to mess with the brain chemisty. It barely effects your home pool.
A good study would be to see how much of a mental thing it is. Or if it is a physical bodily function. Could it be a bodily function that happens to occur during that time period? (like a woman's menstrual cycle)
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Woah! Wait a minute. Don't confuse lunar eclipses with phases of the moon.
Distance factor? What distance factor?
Order of Kilopi
heh. doh. i got my ideas messed up. Count me stupid. :-)
Distance: the moons orbit is not perfectly circular. at some points its far away, others its closer. They are called apogee and perigee. If there was a effect, i would imagine that it would be when the moon is at its closest.
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okay... thought you meant the change in distance between the subject and the moon when the moon is at zenith and the moon at any other position.
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You may be on track, but let me suggest a different approach:I believe it originated back before mass artificial city lighting. When it was a full moon (or close to it), people were more likely to roam the streets in cities and in the countryside at night since they could see more. Hence larger numbers of public mishaps and a sudden correlation of high numbers of "crazy" people with the full moon.
If the legend goes back centuries, then consider that prior to artificial lighting a full Moon constituted a notable increase in light exposure. Evidence suggests a causal relation between mood and lighting (see seasonal affective disorder, SAD) such that decreased lighting may cause depression in some individuals. As a purely speculative hypothesis, given that light therapy may act like antidepressants for SAD patients and that antidepressants can cause mania especially in those with bipolar depression (Ghaemi et al), perhaps the increased amount of light occurring during full Moons prior to artificial lighting could have been sufficient to trigger mania is some individuals.
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So a few seconds after my reply above I figure to do a PubMed search with keywords: "full moon" mania. It found one study also suggesting mania, but via a different mechanism: sleep deprivation. Actually, I prefer my hypothesis stated above. 8)
Journal of Affective Disorders (53.1 (1999): 99-106): "Belief that the full moon is associated with psychiatric disturbance persists despite 50 years research showing no association. This article traces the historical roots of belief in the power of the moon to cause disorders the mind, especially insanity and epilepsy. Putative mechanisms of lunar action are critiqued. It is proposed that modern findings showing lack of lunar effect can be reconciled with pre-modern beliefs in the moon's power through a mechanism of sleep deprivation. Prior to the advent of modern lighting the moon was a significant source of nocturnal illumination that affected sleep-wake cycle, tending to cause sleep deprivation around the time of full moon. This partial sleep deprivation would have been sufficient to induce mania/hypomania in susceptible bipolar patients and seizures in patients with seizure disorders. The advent of modern lighting attenuated this lunar effect, especially in modern urban areas, where most 20th century studies of lunar effects on the mind have been conducted. The hypothesis presented in this article is open to empirical validation or falsification. Potential tests for the sleep-deprivation hypothesis of lunar action are discussed."
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FWIW, I volunteer as a firefighter/EMT and have not noticed anything out of the ordinary on full-moon nights. Strictly anecdotal. I suppose I could go back through our log books and collect statistics...
Administrator
Years ago I was an EMT on our college rescue squad. We did a lot of data analysis of calls and I was one of the key people involved in that. I never looked particularly for a moon-effect, but I don't recall any monthly patterns. Much more obvious were increases on Friday and Saturday nights, for example.
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Non scientific poll, my wife works for the Scottish court Service , and for a numbner of years was the clerk of court in mental health hearings, hearings for those people who were appealing against being committed to an instution for their own good.
She was convinced that she was always busier around full moon that at other times of the month , odd but true , the court stats seem to support this,
Maybe its a Scottish thing
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I know i said it does not affect people...and i firmly believe that. But my mom said she used to work for some company that rationed gas to Police Officers...and every full moon they would request that they needed more. and similier things in the ER with them needing more supplies....IMO it is just strange human subconcious thinking....either that or werewolves really do exsist.Non scientific poll, my wife works for the Scottish court Service , and for a numbner of years was the clerk of court in mental health hearings, hearings for those people who were appealing against being committed to an instution for their own good.
She was convinced that she was always busier around full moon that at other times of the month , odd but true , the court stats seem to support this,
Maybe its a Scottish thing
-ST
Order of Kilopi
I think it is psycho-somatic. People think they should act weird on a full moon, so they act weird.
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I wonder how much of this (people acting weird around full moon) isn't sort of a conditioned response to the "meme" that people get crazy around full moon time?
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I think there may be something to that. It's just one of those things that "everybody knows" even when there's no evidence. Most of the people I know rarely notice the moon unless it is full, so it's not a stretch to imagine that when noteworthy occurrances coincide with a full moon, people would tend to associate them.I wonder how much of this (people acting weird around full moon) isn't sort of a conditioned response to the "meme" that people get crazy around full moon time?
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I usually don't believe in such stuff, but I can hardly sleep when it's full moon. And this also happens when I DON'T know before that it is full moon (I realise at night it might be full moon, and then usually it is).
Order of Kilopi
I have the same problem. Too much light streaming in my bedroom window, even with the blinds down.
Order of Kilopi
Right.I believe it originated back before mass artificial city lighting. When it was a full moon (or close to it), people were more likely to roam the streets in cities and in the countryside at night since they could see more. Hence larger numbers of public mishaps and a sudden correlation of high numbers of "crazy" people with the full moon.
The urban myth is just an extension of this deeply engrained "fact".
Some policemen told me that certain types of crime increase during the full moon. I think the urban legend might have gotten started with this type of information from police departments. Well, I think I might have finally figured it out. Burglars and sneak thieves, stalkers and prowlers, can see better in dark areas of cities at night, during a full moon.
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