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Many people believe that the rising of a full moon causes odd behaviors. Even if this is not true, I find it interesting seeing the connection between the Roman goddess of the moon, Luna, and the word "lunatic." The well-known Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the brain was the wettest organ in the body and thus the most likely to be affected by the moon, which triggers the tides. The idea of the “lunar lunacy effect” or “Transylvania effect” was popular in Europe through the Middle Ages, when humans were widely reputed to morph into werewolves or vampires during a full moon.
Even now many people think the magical powers of the full moon induce spontaneous actions, psychiatric hospital admissions, suicides, homicides, emergency room calls, traffic accidents, fights at professional hockey games, dog bites, old people streaking, and all manner of strange events. One survey revealed that 45 percent of college students believe moonstruck humans are prone to unusual behaviors.
But that's just all what people believe. What's the fact behind it?
The most accepted theory is that, because our body is made of 80% water that the pulling and pushing forces of the moon move around our molecules and cause us to do participate in unordinary shenanigans. This is not true because the moon's affect is so minuscule it wouldn't do anything to our bodies. A few other reasons this theory doesn't hold is because the lunar pull only works on open bodies of water, and even if it did work on our bodies, the tides are just as strong during a full moon as they are during a new moon, yet there is no "new moon lunacy."
The next discouraging thing to those who believe adamantly in the lunar lunacy affect, is that there is NO proof that it exists.
Florida International University psychologist James Rotton, Colorado State University astronomer Roger Culver, and University of Saskatchewan psychologist Ivan W. Kelly have searched to the moon and back (pun intended) for any consistent behavioral effects of the full moon. In all cases, they have found nothing. By reviewing the results of 37 studies and treating them as though they were one huge study, they have found that full moons are entirely unrelated to crimes, suicides, psychiatric problems, and crisis center calls.
I have never felt the impulse to do something especially peculiar during a full moon, nor have I ever observed others acting in a different manner as the moon hang high and full above us in the sky, so I'm not sure I believe in the lunar lunacy affect. I do find the idea of it very interesting though, and it is a myth in the science world that I almost wish was true.
Thanks for reading my blog, if you like to read the article this post was based off of you can find it at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lunacy-and-the-full-moon/
Even now many people think the magical powers of the full moon induce spontaneous actions, psychiatric hospital admissions, suicides, homicides, emergency room calls, traffic accidents, fights at professional hockey games, dog bites, old people streaking, and all manner of strange events. One survey revealed that 45 percent of college students believe moonstruck humans are prone to unusual behaviors.
The most accepted theory is that, because our body is made of 80% water that the pulling and pushing forces of the moon move around our molecules and cause us to do participate in unordinary shenanigans. This is not true because the moon's affect is so minuscule it wouldn't do anything to our bodies. A few other reasons this theory doesn't hold is because the lunar pull only works on open bodies of water, and even if it did work on our bodies, the tides are just as strong during a full moon as they are during a new moon, yet there is no "new moon lunacy."
Florida International University psychologist James Rotton, Colorado State University astronomer Roger Culver, and University of Saskatchewan psychologist Ivan W. Kelly have searched to the moon and back (pun intended) for any consistent behavioral effects of the full moon. In all cases, they have found nothing. By reviewing the results of 37 studies and treating them as though they were one huge study, they have found that full moons are entirely unrelated to crimes, suicides, psychiatric problems, and crisis center calls.
Thanks for reading my blog, if you like to read the article this post was based off of you can find it at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lunacy-and-the-full-moon/
