Does Lunar Effect Exist in Your Mind or in Your Biology?

Let’s talk about how these super moons seem to affect some, but not others

December 20, 2017

There was a time in my life in which I had to visit the local hospital frequently for medical care. One evening I’m there and it’s crazier than usual. A few doctors were in my room and they were figuring out what needed to be done next. One doctor turned to me and asks, “Why did you come in tonight?” I began to explain, yet again, the pains in my abdomen. She cut me off and said, “No, not the reason, but why did you wait until tonight and not 36 hours ago when the pain started?”

All I could think was that it didn’t go away and I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. Yet the conversation between the two docs made reference to the full moon brings out more people to the ER.

So here you have two people of science that have learned to approach data with logic, are discussing their real world experience of busier ERs during Full Moons, yet not one complete solid piece of scientific data exists to explain the phenomena.

Where does that leave us if we’re at odds between overall anecdotal data vs targeted studies?

The only reference I could find on NCBI is The lunar cycle: effects on human and animal behavior and physiology which is a short abstract.

The Washington Post pretty much sums it up that it’s all bullshit in their Dear Science: Does a full moon really change human behavior? Yet the comments alone are overwhelmingly anecdotally biased towards there is a correlation.

According to Live Science, “In fact a host of studies over the years have aimed at teasing out any statistical connection between the moon — particularly the full moon — and human biology or behavior. The majority of sound studies find no connection, while some have proved inconclusive, and many that purported to reveal connections turned out to involve flawed methods or have never been reproduced.”

So here we have it. Quite a bit of data lacking which makes the overall consensus say that there is no correlation or causation to events. Yet, the overwhelming anecdotal evidence cannot be ignored. Let’s face it, studying the moon’s effects isn’t lucrative research material, so let’s also consider that the lack of studies exists for many reasons.

Maybe it’s not a compelling enough subject to warrant study? And I want to know if the anecdotal stories are really coincidental or not. There’s a lot to consider.

Does anecdotal evidence for the Moon’s effect on animal and people behavior mean anything?

According to the post by Nathan Harland Bird “Does the full moon change human behavior?” The answer seems to be not bloody likely.

What I found interesting is not one of these articles asks what effect the new moon has? So let’s look into that shall we.

The first references I came to just stated a lot of the same things the previous articles did on the correlation between water and gravity, but then I ran across this little gem about the new moon and a womans reproductive health by Marie Albiges. It was an absolute goldmine on info about how it has been proven women who cycle with the new moon are statistically healthier reproductively and less likely to have issues in later life.

This article I found at Mind Body Green by Denise Weisner was about how we as women can learn how to change our cycles back to the new moon for better health on all levels. Also this piece about understanding the new moon’s effects on you had a ton of good info on emotional and psychological effects, like the need for solitude and retreat. Increases in downtime and some increase in depressive states and random sadness.

Personally I think I may start my own study with a small group of likely humans and see what we can uncover since the info is so spotty at best. But it does seem that even without concrete evidence the moon phases seem to have some sort of effect, there just is no one way fits all information. So with this as all things on the interweb. Take it with a grain of salt and always always always make up your own mind. It already knows the answers.