How the moon affects your health and psyche
'09.12.2021'
Source: Health
You probably heard a variety of speculation about the influence of the moon on a person. The moon drives people crazy, interferes with sleep, and may even cause convulsions. Although the full moon and super moon is a matter of admiration for earthlings, does it really have such an impact on us?
"I am convinced that any effect of the supermoon on human health and well-being is not associated with any astronomical or physical effects," he said. magazine "Health" Rick Feinberg, a professor of astronomy. “There are no physical phenomena that would have a similar effect on health.”
Feinberg believes that people attribute special properties to the moon when they see it full and bright.
Folklore and legends endow the moon with supernatural powers. Some claim that it regulates rainfall, which is why farmers used to check the phases of the moon in their field work and slaughtering. Although the moon really affects the ebb and flow of the sea, it has no other effect on the Earth and its inhabitants, contrary to ancient legends.
Folklore specialist Professor Merrill Kaplan believes that the myths about the moon originated many centuries ago.
“The idea that under the influence of the moon (as a rule, full) people begin to behave in a strange way, appeared around the first century of our era,” says Kaplan. In the old days, epilepsy episodes were even called "lunar disease."
Scientists are constantly studying this temut, and this is what they managed to find out.
Motorcycle accidents
Canadian scientists analyzed data from more than 13 motorcycle fatalities in the United States over the past 000 years and noted that the number of tragic fatalities did increase during full moon periods.
On every two full moons, one fatal accident was added to the average death toll, explains Donald Redelmeier, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. The increase is small, he adds, but "essential to road safety."
Redelmeier suggests that it is possible that motorcyclists are distracted by the full moon, leading to serious accidents. “Even a little inattention can lead to serious consequences when it comes to car accidents,” he sums up.
Surgery results
It is said that in the full moon the number of patients in intensive care units increases. Even doctors believe this.
German scientists decided to test this statement for strength and analyzed the medical records of almost 28 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit from 000 to 2001.
"Superstitions and popular myths are very common in the medical environment," the study authors said. "More than 40% of health workers are convinced that the lunar phases affect human behavior."
The researchers compared surgeries performed on the full moon with surgeries performed on ordinary days (as well as zodiacal data and cases on Friday the 13th). None of these factors influenced blood loss and surgical outcome.
Conclusion: “Our data state that such beliefs are myths that have no real basis.”
Convulsions
Some researchers believe that the full moon can provoke convulsions. They analyzed neurological data from 850 patients with convulsions in the emergency department from 1999 to 2003. Experts have noticed a significant increase in the number of cases on full moon days.
However, a subsequent study concluded that the brightness of the moon at night, and not its phase, could cause such fluctuations in the number of convulsions.
Mental disorders
Beliefs are very widespread, even among psychologists, that the moon affects the human psyche, said researchers at Queen’s University of Canada. They analyzed 1800 data from patients whose mental state caused the emergency department to go to the emergency room. Scientists looked at the statistics of cases during the four phases of the lunar cycle.
Once again, scientists have freed the moon from baseless accusations. According to the results of the study, it became clear that the phases of the moon were not related to the number of cases of mental seizures.
"If the lunar influence does exist, then it is minimal and unstable and can be attributed to an error," the scientists summed up.
In another study, in which the patient's 782 participated, undergoing psychological counseling sessions, the connection between anxiety and depression with the moon was also minimal.
Good night moon
Perhaps the moon is interfering with our sleep, but not much.
In a small Swedish study of 33 people, researchers identified a deep sleep indicator using an encephalogram and noticed a 30 percent decrease during full moon periods. The duration of falling asleep lasted 5 minutes longer and the total sleep duration decreased by 20 minutes.
Reanalysis was unable to demonstrate confirmation of these results. But a study of 319 patients at the Sleep Research Center noted that the subjects' sleep quality deteriorated on a full moon.
