Buzz
Along with Mercury in retrograde, the full moon is often blamed for bad luck and strange actions. Seen someone acting unusual? You might chalk it up to the lunar cycle.
There are claims that crime rates rise and hospitals get busier during the full moon (although a 2004 study disproved this idea). And then there’s the classic werewolf legend. Why do people think this happens? The explanation is that the moon, which influences the tides, is believed to similarly affect us, given that the human body is predominantly water.
The idea that the moon affects behavior is so commonly believed—reported to be true by 80 percent of nurses and 64 percent of doctors, according to a 1987 paper published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine—that in 2012, researchers at Université Laval’s School of Psychology in Canada set out to explore whether mental illness and the moon’s phases are connected [PDF].
To investigate the theory, the researchers assessed 771 patients who visited emergency rooms at two Montreal hospitals between March 2005 and April 2008. These patients reported chest pains, but doctors couldn’t pinpoint any medical cause. Many had panic attacks, anxiety, mood disorders, or suicidal thoughts.
When the researchers compared the timing of the visits with the phases of the moon, they found no connection between the occurrence of psychological issues and the four lunar phases, with one exception: during the final lunar quarter, anxiety disorders were 32 percent less frequent. “This might be coincidental or related to factors we didn’t consider,” said Dr. Geneviève Belleville, who led the research team. “But what we can say for sure is that we saw no full-moon or new-moon impact on mental health issues.”
So, take a deep breath (or maybe not): If people appear to act strangely during the full moon, it’s likely they’re behaving in much the same way throughout the entire lunar cycle.
