Introduction
For decades, there have been many controversies regarding a full moon and how it affects an individual’s personality and biological nature. Over time, cultural myths have coined the term ‘lunar effect’ which relates directly to a false reality attributed to the behaviors one can acquire during a full moon. The link of human behavior to phases of the moon spans through several different key areas such as mental health, trauma, reproduction, sleep, violence and psychology. These myths have spanned through history and have tried to find correlations between these categories in relation to the moon. Although researchers have claimed that a full moon can biologically affect an individual in these key areas, there has not been enough scientific evidence to prove that a full moon can truly have an effect on human behavior and mental distortion.
History
For many centuries, people have believed that when a full moon is present, there are various behavior, psychological and physiological changes that are associated with the lunar cycle. Historically, the importance of full moon and its impacts began with roman mythology.. Roman mythology was a very strong influence over social and cultural life. People from the Roman descent believed that there were gods which had the power to handle all kinds of natural phenomenons. They believed there were gods who were holding the skies in their hands, above their heads. On similar lines of thought, they had this idea that lunar power had a lot of effects on humans (Underhill and Hobel, 2018). This mythological belief states that the menstrual cycle in human beings gets affected by the lunar impact. Also, it was commonly believed that if the menstrual cycle of a woman is in sync with the moon’s lunar cycle, it can bring out various effects of reproduction. There were other mythological beliefs too which said that moon cycle had a direct impact on human fertility. Also, it is said that the attractive power of the moon pulls people towards the gods, leading them towards erratic behavior. From a behavioral point of view, it is said that the power of the lunar pull is so strong that it can even make people commit suicide. In many parts of the world there were old customs of throwing young girls in the rivers on full moons because the rivers appeared too full of water and active due to the lunar pull. The Romans assumed it to be a sign of anger from the gods and it was pacified by gifting the river a young girl. This myth was popular in almost all civilizations of that time which were located by the sides of large rivers. Civilization around the Nile river can be considered as one of the best in this regard (Cordi et al, 2014).
Although there has been a lot of mythological literature which was created about the effects of moon on human behavior, there was very little scientific research done to back the same.
Present
Although there has been a lot of mythological literature which was created about the effects of a full moon on human behavior.. In recent decades however, there has been a lot of research which has been done about the erratic behavior of people during the full moon and the other lunar effects. In the last quarter of the last century, some 40 well researched articles, journals and books were published on the same topic. The body of knowledge about the same topic is much vaster today (Foster and Roenneberg, 2008). This research was done in recent studies focusing on the lunar effect controlling birth rate and connections of the lunar effect with erratic behavior.
Reviewing this research, one can see that there are a lot of mythological beliefs that deal with lunar effects over human behavior. Many of mythological beliefs which say that childbirth, fertility, menstrual cycle and a lot of similar topics gets affected by the moon. However, after thorough research, science has not been able to prove any correlation between all these various elements as stated already in relation to the moon cycle. These are myths which have been created and fed over time to make them look and sound too real. When the moon is closest to the earth, the gravitational pull has an impact over water on the surface of earth. If both the moon and sun are at the same side of the earth, the gravitational pull by both the sun and moon have a strong impact over water and that is what leads to the rivers being overfilled or showing ‘angry’ movements. Science says that it is not the gods who are angry and making the rivers swell, but the simply the scientific answer is that the combined gravitational pull of the sun and moon, when placed together at one common side of the earth, causes the pull on water to be stronger. This results in heavier waves and stronger reactions related to water because of the pull from both the moon and sun. The phenomenon, when explained through scientific reasoning, makes much more sense than ‘angry gods’ as the Roman culture has claimed.
There have been a lot of mythological beliefs correlating the lunar cycle and the erratic psychological behavior of people. In this regard too, science has shown that there is no reality. No scientific research has shown that there is any reality in these myths. These are age old beliefs and there are many coincidences which make them appear as a reality. Science on the other hand does not believe in the power of moon to control birth, or to have an impact over menstrual cycle (Losif and Ballon, 2005).
Reproduction
Science has found no connection between lunar effects and birth control or birth rate. Data collected by Joshua S. Gans – University of Toronto, and Andrew Leigh – Parliament of Australia, in a study from January 1st, 1975 to December 31st, 2003, concluded that a full moon is not connected to any significant change in the number of conceptions, births, or deaths. These scientists collected data daily from Australian births and deaths from the state and territory registries, and the information was organized by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The data covers all birth and death records compiled showing that 10,592 days from 1 January 1975 to 31 December 2003, encompassed a total of 7,108,772 births and 3,707,146 deaths (Gans , Leigh, 2003). This study concluded that there is no correlation between a full moon and birth, death, and conception since the sample size was so large and spread out through 29 years.
Menstruation, an important factor in reproduction, typically occurs every 29.5 days, coincidentally the same amount of time that goes by between each lunar cycle. “Dr. Christian Northrup, an OB/GYN, says the phrase “moon time” was used for ages as a euphemism for menstruation, and when women lived together in clans, their menstrual cycles lined up with each other and the moon cycles” (Albiges, 2014). A study conducted by Winnifred B. Cutler in 1977 showed that women who had menstrual cycles that durated during the approaching cycle duration of the earth’s moon were tending to ovulate in the dark phase of the lunar period. The dark phase encompasses the half-cycle of the month from the last quarter, through new moon, to first quarter. Women showing irregular menstrual cycles also tended to ovulate during the dark phase of the lunar period.Cutler found that 40 percent of her participants had the onset of menstruation within two weeks of the full moon, which means they were ovulating during the “dark phase,” or second half of the moon cycle, when the moon isn’t visible from earth. She states that even though menstrual cycles and lunar cycles match up, there were only 312 participants in this study and nothing can be concluded from the data provided (Cutler, 1977).
Mental Health
Mental health is a popular topic related to a erratic behavior during the occurrence of a full moon. The mental state of a human being is important since it can lead to thoughts of suicide, homicide, There have been a lot of mythological beliefs correlating the lunar cycle and the erratic psychological behavior of people. In this regard too science has shown that there is no reality. No scientific research has shown that there is any reality in these myths. These are age old beliefs and there are many coincidences which make them appear as a reality. Science on the other hand does not believe in the power of moon to control birth, or to have an impact over menstrual cycle (Losif and Ballon, 2005)