Lunacy, says it all. We all know that the time of the full
moon feels strange. Legend has it that the full moon brings
out the worst in people: more violence, suicides, accidents,
and aggression. The influence of the moon and behavior has
been called "The Lunar Effect" or "The Transylvania Effect."
The belief that the full moon causes mental disorders and
strange behavior was widespread throughout Europe in the
middle ages.
Studies show that more assaults occur around the full
moon. More crimes, self and unintentional poisonings and
animal bites occur during the full moon cycle as well.
There are many problems encountered when trying to study
the lunar effect. For example, some studies include "full
moon" behaviors that occur a few days before and after the
full moon, while other studies include only those behaviors
on a single day.
The full moon appears once every 29.53 days. Sometimes
there are two full moons in one month. It is possible to
have a month without a full moon, but this is rare and can
only occur in February. You have to wait until February
2066 for the next month without a full moon. (I guess we
are all going to miss that one!)
People remain convinced that the moon must do something.
After all, the earth's surface is 80 percent water; the
human body is 80 percent water, so a human tidal effect
makes sense. Tidal variation in most coastal areas seldom
exceeds ten feet. In smaller bodies of water, such as lakes
and probably the human body, tides are negligible. Another
point is that the tides don't occur just once or twice a
month; they occur once or twice a day. What happens at full
and new moon is that the earth, moon, and sun are lined up,
resulting in higher tides than usual.
A new idea arrives in this theorizing from the discovery
that positive and negative ions in the atmosphere have
an effect on behavior (negative ions usually favourable,
positive the opposite). Positive ions are more abundant
when the moon is full. However, the effect is slight
compared to major sources of positive ions like air
conditioning and air pollution.
The full moon affects many people worldwide causing
emotional instability and insecurity. Since the
gravitational force of the moon is strong enough to
cause the tides, therefore it is possibly changing the
gravitational effect on our glands and organs which can
affect our moods.
Other effects include the different wavelengths of light
coming from the moon, and the full moon's affect on our
inner pathogens. The light from the moon is of a different
combination of wavelengths and strength of light than what
the sun gives us. It is known that different colors of
light cause different emotional reactions. It could be that
the moon's silvery colour is at least partially responsible
for some people's reactions. Also, we have inner pathogens
including yeast, worms, parasites, virus, and bacteria.
Perhaps the day to night gravitational change causes a
change in the activity of these pathogens, maybe increasing
their activity which in turn increases their drain on our
nutrients and increases the number of byproducts they
excrete into our bloodstream.
Why the full moon affects some people more than others is
another question. It may be because some people have
borderline glandular functions or some have more pathogens.
The most likely pathogen that contributes to the full moon
effect is yeast. Too much yeast causes a reaction in people
by causing them to feel 'stressed out' because of the loss
of normal digestion and increased level of toxicity in the
blood.
Even Ann Landers says there is a cycle to her letters.
She gets more letters whenever there's a full moon.
I know better than to argue with Anne!
