Full Moon

[Stout Drinker]

Is there anything to the effect that the full moon or lunar cycle has on human activity.

According to Sceptics Dictionary (http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html) there is no correlation.

However there are some groups who say that the lunar cycle can have an effect on a woman's period. This site is admittedly a bit woo but her goes http://www.menstruation.com.au/periodpages/mooncycles.html

A friend of mine who worked as a psychiatric nurse insists that she notices a huge uptick in problems when there is a full moon.

I remain sceptical but is it possible that the lunar cycle could have a very real effect on how we act.

[ofro]

There is an easy way for your friend to support her contention:
Ask her to keep a precise diary through several lunar cycles, preferably for a year, of the psychiatric problems.

It is my contention that once you don't rely on your episodic memory but actually keep precise track, the moon effect will disappear.

[tjakey]

I was in a hospital with crazy people for a month (long story) and the moon certainly seemed to have an affect. I also flew Air Ambulance airplanes for a couple of years and it seemed that every time there was a full moon we were very busy. Not very scientific, but that was my experience.

[hecaterin]

AFAIK it's pure confirmation bias. Every time anyone's studied it with diaries and such, the correlation disappears. A busy night at full moon is, like, woo, spooky, and remembered, while a busy night at another time is just another busy night.

[Brianna]

It is a full moon always at my job.

:D

[epepke]

I find it rather annoying that there seems to be no correlation between lunar cycles and, well, anything really. It's funny because, when the moon is full, it's been lighter in most of my bedrooms, and I've gotten less sleep because of that. It has an effect on me.

[Brianna]

I find it rather annoying that there seems to be no correlation between lunar cycles and, well, anything really. It's funny because, when the moon is full, it's been lighter in most of my bedrooms, and I've gotten less sleep because of that. It has an effect on me.

Light blocking curtains for the win.

[hecaterin]

I wonder if there might perhaps have been a real correlation in the days before streetlights. It's much harder to get around if it's pitch dark, so perhaps there really were more loonies out at night when the light was better.

(Haha "loonies", see what I did there?)

[ofro]

1. Full moon causes spring tide
2. Moon causes tide by gravity
3. Humans sense gravity
4. Therefore full moon has crazy effects on humans
:rolleyes:

[David B]

When I worked in a home for autistic people with challenging behaviour there were a couple of people who swore blind that the full moon would kick off incidents.

I used to take great pleasure in asking them what the state of the moon was following a major incident, when I knew full well that the moon was nowhere near full.

I couldn't detect any effect from the moon myself.

David

[Notta]

When I was having my first child, 8 days before the due date, the maternity ward was jumping & packed full of women giving birth. I asked the floor nurse if it was always this busy, and she said a full moon seemed to make a lot of women go into labor. She said the ward was usually much more busy over the 2-3 days of a full moon.

I know that a pregnant woman under extreme stress will go into labor within 10 days of her due date if she finds herself in a safe, secure environment.

[Berthold]

1. Full moon causes spring tide
Not to forget that humans consist of water to a large proportion.

When someone said this, I was tempted to ask, "What, please, have tides to do with water? I kept quiet, however, since they might have alarmed the emergency ward of the nearest loony bin.

[Ray Moscow]

When I was having my first child, 8 days before the due date, the maternity ward was jumping & packed full of women giving birth. I asked the floor nurse if it was always this busy, and she said a full moon seemed to make a lot of women go into labor. She said the ward was usually much more busy over the 2-3 days of a full moon.

I know that a pregnant woman under extreme stress will go into labor within 10 days of her due date if she finds herself in a safe, secure environment.

No doubt the gravitation force of the full moon serves to "pull" the babies from the womb. ;)

The maternity wards of some hospitals have had to install netting to prevent newborns from floating up out of reach in their quest to join that weighty orb.

[HinduWoman]

Yeah the link between moon and menstruation seems to be made up due to new age thingy.
I never hear about it in India.

[hecaterin]

I'm pretty sure it's older than newage; but I guess it must be a western superstition then. I am a bit surprised; you'd think the 28 days lunar cycle, 28 days menstrual cycle would be a common conflation.

[ofro]

I am glad that the moon's cycle period is not as variable as an individual's menstrual cycle.

[Matty]

1. Full moon causes spring tide
2. Moon causes tide by gravity
3. Humans sense gravity
4. Therefore full moon has crazy effects on humans
:rolleyes:

hehe Poe so applies to woo as well as religion. You're not that far off.

The funniest explanation of this "phenomenon" i ever heard was from a wooist who claimed that the moon has a similar tugging effect on the fluid surrounding the brain as it does on the oceans and that said mood altering tidal effect was stronger when the moon was full, ergo rampant mentals. It's proven you know. Thats why people with a full moon in their birth horoscope can be a bit, y'know, temperamental.


I kid you not.
http://www.google.ca/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k93/chrishorgen/Funnay/facepalm.jpg&usg=AFQjCNFtKTgfJ676XEJ7sp-_2vp34O_W3Q

[jaywalker]

You can see a lot better at night in a full moon.

[Berthold]

At full moon, the weather is fine.

When you can see the full moon...

[ofro]

How wrong can I be! I should have read this earlier and try to convince you of the moon's amazing effect on fertility.

Most women watch their cycles and know that their mid cycle or biological ovulation is the prime time to fall pregnant in.

What they don't know is that the moon can trigger ovulation and bring on fertililty at any time during the menstrual cycle - including before, during and just after your period. Not knowing this vital piece of fertility information can put women at risk of unwanted pregnancy even though they may be using effective contraception at what they think is their most fertile time.

This phenomena is called the natal lunar fertile phase.(original bolding)

Conclusion: many of this forum's readers are lunar conceptions! You just don't know because you parents were ignorant!

Read and be awed here (http://www.menstruation.com.au/menstrualproducts/basiclunar.html)

[hecaterin]

I am glad that the moon's cycle period is not as variable as an individual's menstrual cycle.Indeed! I'm not saying there's a real connection, in case that was unclear. Just that it's a coincidence that I would have expected to feature more globally in human superstitions. You don't need a perfect correlation for that to happen.

Also, I am suitably awestruck by your latest link.

[Oolon Colluphid]

I fail to see how the proportion of the moon's surface that is illuminated has any effect on anything except how dark it is on a clear night. The moon is, after all, always up there, no matter how much of it is lit up.

You'd think that if gravity had anything to do with it, the effect would be strongest at new moon, when the moon and sun are in the same direction from earth. It works for spring tides, after all.

[ofro]

Just think, doesn't the expression "gibbous moon" inspire special feelings, much more than crescent moon? "More than half full" - it has got to do something with pregnancy. Doesn't matter if it's waxing or waning.

[Matty]

I fail to see how the proportion of the moon's surface that is illuminated has any effect on anything except how dark it is on a clear night. The moon is, after all, always up there, no matter how much of it is lit up.

You'd think that if gravity had anything to do with it, the effect would be strongest at new moon, when the moon and sun are in the same direction from earth. It works for spring tides, after all.

i pointed that out to the hippy chick referred to above and the official response was "mmwemhhm, welll.... mmm, well, ..mmm.. welllll, but plants grow better when they are planted on the full moon and THATS a fact. "


ORLY. :)

[Berthold]

You'd think that if gravity had anything to do with it, the effect would be strongest at new moon, when the moon and sun are in the same direction from earth. It works for spring tides, after all.
New moon and full moon are equivalent concerning tides!

[Oolon Colluphid]

You'd think that if gravity had anything to do with it, the effect would be strongest at new moon, when the moon and sun are in the same direction from earth. It works for spring tides, after all.
New moon and full moon are equivalent concerning tides!
There's always one :rolleyes: :D

Yup, spring tides are at full and new moon. But the gravity-pull -- and hence the lunar effect (if it existed, and was gravity-based) -- should be strongest when the moon and sun gravities are combined, rather than antagonistic (as they are at full moon).

[HinduWoman]

You are all speciests! You forgot the Werewolves! (And werehumans, the poor animals who are condemned to become human beings on full moon)

[HinduWoman]

Link between moon and madness does seem to be a Western superstition, do not find it in India.

[Berthold]

You are all speciests! You forgot the Werewolves! (And werehumans, the poor animals who are condemned to become human beings on full moon)
Or these (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440301/palolo-worm).

Perhaps the only food that has to be gathered according to the moon calendar. :p

[Valheru]

The gravitational effect of the moon has to have some measurable effect on us, whatever it is.

The full moon... nah. At least, not from a gravitational aspect. A full moon doesn't have more mass than a new moon, as Berthold points out.

So could the greater nocturnal light levels of a full moon have had an evolutionary impact on us? Could the greater light levels modify the behaviour of predators, thereby affecting our survival instincts by proxy?