A lot of people, including a few members of our family, believe that a full moon brings out the worst in people. I’ve read all sorts of stories about more suicides, more violence, more accidents, and more aggression occurring when the moon is full. The influence of the moon on behavior has been called “The Lunar Effect” or sometimes, “The Transylvania Effect.”
Claire had to go to the emergency room a number of years ago. She was there several hours and I had to spend most the time in the emergency waiting room. It turns out there was a full moon that night and I do remember a lot of bizarre things going on — it was actually entertaining just sitting there watching. I remember a nurse saying something like, “you can sure tell it’s a full moon tonight.”
Despite all the claims that emergency rooms and police departments are busier on nights when there is a full moon is…. at best, debatable. I won’t bother you with a lot of data, but there is a lot of data as a result of studies attempting to tie the full moon to behavior. The results of the studies are inconsistent. Some studies indicate that a particular behavior will occur more often during a full moon and other studies show no relationship between that behavior and a full moon. Like any study, the parameters are all important. Some of these studies include “full moon” behaviors that occur a few days before and after the full moon, while other studies include only those behaviors within a single day of the full moon. Inconsistency is pretty much the story with all “lunar-effect” claims — when you look at them closely, they fall apart.
So how do we explain all those cops and emergency room nurses who believe in the lunar effect? It may be because nobody notices when there’s a full moon and nothing happens — you only notice when something does happen. It’s kind of like heads I win, tails don’t count…. or — maybe not.
But anyhow, once a month, sometimes twice a month, there’s gonna be a full moon (it’s possible to have month without a full moon — it doesn’t happen often, but it happened in February 2018. It can only happen in the month of February.)
So if you’re a believer, plan a nice quiet night at home once (or twice) a month…. except for those years you can live it up all month in February.
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