The full moon does NOT cause crazy!

[Stormraven]

I get so sick and tired of hearing (or reading) people blaming the full moon for crazy behaviour.

This concept has been tested again and again and again and again. It has never held up. There is no upswing of violent or crazy behaviour during the full moon. None.

It's nothing more than false positives - people remembering the 'hits' (crazy behaviour during the full moon) and forgetting the misses (full moons with no crazy behaviour or people acting crazier than usual on normal nights).

[Amethyst Hunter]

It's probably just leftover superstition from less enlightened times. I doubt anybody (except for the truly stupid) really believes the full moon causes The Crazy; it's just a convenient way to place blame for unexplainable chaos.

[Boozy]

Do you find that people are saying this in earnest, or just making light conversation?

If I get a string of nutty customers at work, I might say, "Must be a full moon." But I don't really think lunar phases have anything to do with it; it's just a saying.

[Slytovhand]

I get so sick and tired of hearing (or reading) people blaming the full moon for crazy behaviour.

This concept has been tested again and again and again and again. It has never held up. There is no upswing of violent or crazy behaviour during the full moon. None.

It's nothing more than false positives - people remembering the 'hits' (crazy behaviour during the full moon) and forgetting the misses (full moons with no crazy behaviour or people acting crazier than usual on normal nights).

I'm pretty sure coppers and ambo's might disagree with this. Sure, maybe false positives... but I suspect less likely.

Does the Full Moon actually have an influence on us psychologically? Does the full moon seem to have any effect on any other type of animal at all?? Since the answer to the second is a most definite and resounding YES, I'm a bit more inclined to go yea for the first.

Similarly, does dehydration have an effect on a human being. Yes. Thus, why shouldn't it follow that the Moon, having an obvious effect on water systems across the planet, also have an effect on humans across the planet (given our 70% water meatsacks).

Just throwing in possibilities...

[Stormraven]

While individual police and ambulance drivers might disagree with me, the studies I mention were performed using police blotter and hospital data. There is no correlation, no causation.

And, Boozy - see the post above. I see a lot of people who seem to hold it as an actual belief.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I find that the full moon affects me psychologically; but not in a negative way. I absolutely adore moonlight; have done since I was a child, so I love to go out and walk in the moonlight. I almost feel as tho I get positive energy from it. I suppose that some people might get a negative response from it, but it's kind of hard for me to understand.

[Sylvia727]

I've also heard the story that more babies are born during a full moon, but I've never seen any science to back that up. I was born in an understaffed hospital, and my doctor didn't arrive until well after I'd crested. My mother and my grandmother both swear that I was born during a full moon, and that the nurse commented on the full moon as the reason for so many babies that night. Apparently, the nurse claimed that they were always understaffed during full moons. However, I've put my birthday into different phases-of-the-moon generators, and they all come up with a crescent moon for my birthday. According to the Omniscient Internets, one of my sisters was born during a nearly full waxing gibbous moon. However, both my mother and grandmother indigantly decry the notion that they might be mistaken on which child was born when.

I really doubt I was born during a full moon.

[Flyndaran]

A reflective rock a boat load of miles away does nothing other than reflect and cause large scale gravitational effects.
Unless a person weighs a significant amount compared to oceans, and stays perfectly still, there is no discernable effect from the moon.

I hate superstitions as could probably be determined from my other posts.

[Boozy]

Unless a person weighs a significant amount compared to oceans, and stays perfectly still, there is no discernable effect from the moon.

Quoted for truth.

I don't like real science being distorted by pseudo-science. Size matters. The effects of cosmological events on the earth occur only because of the earth's size.

Lately, particular physics has been abused by pseudo-sciences and new age religions. Yes, the behaviour of an electron is fascinating, and frankly, a bit creepy. However, quantum physics breaks down when we're talking about something as large as a human, or a human brain. Then plain old Newtonian physics takes it's place. And there's nothing overly mystical about it.

[BlaqueKatt]

While individual police and ambulance drivers might disagree with me, the studies I mention were performed using police blotter and hospital data. There is no correlation, no causation.

true I remember reading somewhere that the main reasons for the anecdotal data is a slight increase in criminal attempts thwarted due to increased light-"I can see the random thug siphoning gas from my car, any other night I'd not be sure it wasn't just a weird shadow."

[Evandril]

I'd be interested in a study done about the effects of the ambient light of the full moon, vs an unlit area. Cities, where crime is more 'common', tend to be lit enough that the light difference wouldn't be as noticable.

[Slytovhand]

The stats we're looking for... (well, some of them).

And another study of animals, and another, and one last one for Crazylegs .

So, to my mind, the jury is still out - especially when I hear/read the anecdotal evidence (ie, not yet correlated or investigated) for mentally disabled people - such as autism. But, I'm inclined to think there is a direct connection, but many factors are involved.