We know that the moon affects the tide. We know that the moon affects the animals behavior. And we know the moon affects different insect behavior as well. Yet can the moon affect human behavior or is the idea of a werewolf something to be left in the movies? The full moon myth has been around for years. Its the idea that people’s moods or behaviors seem to change when there is a full moon. this idea has been portrayed to the extreme within movies for years. Its not the idea that when the full moon is out you become a monster, its just the idea that a persons mood or behavior might change to the point where they are more energetic, strange or just all around different.Yet is there really a correlation or is this just another myth brought upon by folktale.

This idea has been studied using different observational experiments, as the correlation between behavior and lunar phase is seemingly non existent. Even though the correlation has not been proven there are still cases where the idea is not so far fetched. For example according to an article on BBC named “Does A Full Moon Make People Mad” written by Claudia Hammond, it states that there have been cases where hospitals visits and violent/illegal acts increased during the time of a full moon. Now is is not proven that the moon caused this increase but this was not a one time deal. In fact this was a reoccurring event that caused the amount of staff on call to increase to help handle the increase.

Some studies that have been done about this topic monitor the amount a person was sleeping during the time of a full moon. One study in particular was done using 33 volunteers and the results do not lie. The results showed that there was a decrease in not only sleep time on average but also within the chemical releases within the brain.”We have evidence that the distance to the nearest full-moon phase significantly influences human sleep and evening melatonin levels when measured under strictly controlled laboratory conditions, where factors such as light and personal moon perception can be excluded,” (study authors).

As most of you know there is a direct correlation between mood and sleep as we become easily agitated or “cranky” when we lose sleep. Yet this study that was performed put the subjects within a room in which no light from the moon was able to be seen, and still the subjects had a harder time going to sleep and they had a different sleep pattern than what they normally do. Thus brining up the idea that maybe the moon does not effect the behavior, maybe the moon effects your sleep patterns which then changes your behavior. These countless studies have yet to get a definite answer yet most are pointing to the idea that the moon does not change how one acts yet it may still change how they sleep. So now the next time theres a full moon take a look at those around you or even at yourself and take note to see if there are any behavioral changes or changes within your sleep patterns.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/26/full-moon-may-disrupt-sleep-study-says/

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131029-does-a-full-moon-make-people-mad

http://www.lunarcalendar.org/