Does the Full Moon Affect Human Behavior?

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Published 2018-10-19

This video answers the question: Can a full moon affect human behavior? This is a theory that I've heard many times and there's a lot of different behaviors that people attribute to full moons. It's believed that 80% of nurses, 70% of mental health clinicians, and 50% of the general public believe that the full moon affects human behavior and there are a lot of different areas that this belief says can be affected by a full moon. For example, increasing psychiatric hospital admissions, increasing crime, including violent crime, increasing the risk of unstable behavior or mood dysphoria, increasing the number of seizures that occur, and the number of traffic accidents. To understand this theory about the moon, we have to understand a little bit about the moon's orbit and about gravitation. First with gravitation, the moon exerts gravitational force on everything else in the universe, technically, but everything else on the planet including human beings and all the objects on the planet. The most noticeable impact of this gravitational force is the moon's effect on the oceans and other large bodies of water. We know for instance that the moon has an impact on tides. the way the theory goes is that if the moon is exerting gravitational force on the oceans, which are of course mostly water, then it's exerting gravitational force on people in some special way because human beings are mostly water (about 80% water). Next, we need to take a look at the moon's orbit and how it does or doesn't line up with the phases of the moon. A full moon ad a new moon are phases of the Moon. They don't have a relationship with the distance between the moon and the earth. The moon orbits the earth in an elliptical pattern and when the moon's closest to the earth that's called perigee and when the moon is farthest away it’s called apogee. The phases of the moon, like full moon and new moon, do not correspond with the perigee or the apogee, so when the moon is exerting the most gravitational force on a person, that's not necessarily related to a phase of the moon. Another important part here is to understand how much gravitational force the moon is actually exerting our person. To understand this, we have to understand the concept of a Newton. A Newton is a measure of force and it's the amount of force required to accelerate a one kilogram mass one meter per second per second, so it's a very small amount of force. If we think about what it feels like on a person on earth, one Newton would be about .22 pounds, so very light amount of force. Now the amount of force the earth exerts on the average human being is around 950 Newton's. The amount of force that the moon exerts on human being is about .004 Newtons. There is some evidence that there is a relationship between the full moon and some animal behavior. In terms of human beings there is evidence that a full moon can have a very small effect on sleep (less than 1% the amount that so many sleeps would be subject to change based on a full moon).
If the full moon is really not affecting human behavior, which it doesn't appear to be in any meaningful way, why do so many people believe that the full moon of affects behavior. Well for one thing, the idea that the full moon affects human behavior goes back a long way. The term “lunacy” comes from a Latin word for the moon, so this belief that unstable behavior is associated with the moon goes back many years. When you have a tradition like this, when you have a belief that goes back a long way, by default most people will of course believe it until they see evidence to the contrary. This is where a problem comes in. First of all, we tend to look at events more than nonevents. It's just a condition of human behavior. If something unusual happens we're going to notice that if it happens to coincide with a full moon. We're going to remember that coincidence more than we remember a nonevent or even an event happening when there's not a full moon. There's a bit of memory bias at work. When we believe something as we would in the case of the full moon, because this belief has been around a long time, we tend to look at evidence that confirms our belief. We are going to look at things that happen during a full moon and tend to attribute those behaviors to the full moon, instead of other more likely causes.

All Comments (21)

@mrsonjanjatm9698 4 years ago

As somrone who worked in a mental institution for old people, who mostly had dementia, i can say that they were not only afected by the moon, but also by the wether. It was actually pretty interesting to see how everyone was in somewhat of a similar mood depending on the wether or the moon.
@sschoenleber925 5 years ago

Oddly I worked at a Psych ward that did experience increased patient admissions during Full Moons - to a point where the Nursing Coordinators decided to staff additional PRN nurses on those dates. It could simply be that people perceive that a full moon will cause erratic behavior - which increased that behavior leading to increased admissions...
@Brandonthebuilder777 3 years ago

I would argue that a full moon has more significant effects on us, given that it has been constant in our evolutionary past. The fact that we can see in the night under a full moon so clearly (if you don’t live in a forsaken artificially lighted city) and that much of our history was spent as hunter gatherers. For instance my cat will spend all night hunting outside during a full moon because to his eyes it’s virtually daytime.
@jasa9707 5 years ago

If the full moon doesn't affect human behaviour Dr., can you please give me another reason for why every full moon I sprout hair all over my body, my canines lengthen etc. and I spend the night running around indiscriminately devouring people and cocking my leg on trees and poles?
@amberpalmer444 4 years ago

During a full moon I can't fall asleep too easily and it makes me stay awake brighteyed.
@rajivdas8185 5 years ago

Yes sir I am a patient of obsessive compulsive disorder ,my illness becomes worst during full moon and lunar period
@GIguy 3 years ago

I can tell you as a first responder, and emergency room medical radiation technician, that I dread working every time there’s a full moon, because, to be guttural, every creepy nightcrawler, comes into our emergency department, and always on a full moon. There may not be scientific evidence to explain how or why, but I don’t need that evidence, my own experiences are all the evidence I need. I’ve been working in healthcare for over 30 years, and I guarantee you, every single time there’s a full moon, half the staff calls in sick, because nobody wants to work it, knowing what we’re in for. I work in a major trauma centre in downtown Toronto, every time we’ve had excessive violence, mental health breakdowns, severe psychosis of varying degrees, even staff being attacked, one evening being shot to death, has always occurred on a full moon. The rest of the time it’s just the usual run-of-the-mill emergency patients, so don’t tell me there’s no evidence to suggest there’s a correlation between a full moon and human behavior, because I know for a fact that there is.
@CamBalacuit 4 years ago

Maybe not gravity, but about the amount of light available at night due to increased moonlight? We know that longer vs shorter daylight has an effect on mood (seasonal affective disorder). What about moonlight?
@kettenschlosd 4 years ago

i think the light aspect is not to be underestimated. as someone who takes recent walks at night: no moon means seeing almost nothing except the stars. a full moon is so bright that you actually throw a shadow. i dont know if this is a psychological effect, but my behavior is obviosly influenced by the full moon. i tend to notice no other moonphase and i deliberately look at full moons because they are beautiful. drawing looks seems like a behavior change to me.
@nancymilliken692 2 years ago

I've been in education for 20 years. It is a real thing. I work with kids with behavioral issues and extreme seizure disorders. We ready ourselves for a full moon. It's a real thing.
@JustinMF11 5 years ago

What if the full moon has an effect not because of gravity, but because of genetic code? Us and our ancestors have used the moon and the stars to see and navigate since we've been humans. Animals including us, hunt during the full moon also. I don't know.
@noon2232 1 year ago

I started noticing a pattern where my anxiety would increase and that’s why i now believe that it does effect some people. First-hand evidence.
@karthikarvindcs 4 years ago

People think they know everything. There are so many unexplained forces that science hasnt yet been explain. When you can t explain something doesnt mean it doesnt exists.
@wolffanderson7629 5 years ago

My dad was a doctor and every full moon the hospital would be full of injured people and insane people. So I would have to say that you must be mistaken
@vuksekicki6913 5 years ago

Reviewing few studies and drawing conclusions is equivalent to superstition. Moon has effect on fish, has effect on lions on the sea but humans somehow escaped the effects? Second problem is folk tales are from ancient times when moon was significant source of night light and probably had much more significant effect on melatonin and sleep. All studies were done after widespread use of artificial light. Sleep deprivation is most common seizure trigger. I just think that there is not enough interest in science to do in depth research, that is all.
@sunshinewithin435 5 years ago

I always feel extremely happy during full moon...and love looking at the moon❤️.
@ladym7790 2 years ago

During a full moon I have problems to sleep and remain asleep more episodes of depression and also I tend to miss specific people more. Also I feel more angry. I fully believe that it happens because of the full moon 🌙
@peterstrianus1790 4 years ago

It's full moon and I'm going crazy it seems that my body is going to explode. Let's not talk about the sex drive.
@ResilientME 5 years ago

I'd expect any effect there may be to involve light. Either the reflected light keeping us more wakeful or just people taking advantage of the well lit nights. I don't know if 'moonlight' falls within the blue light spectrum but if it does there's an idea.
@Elcirculodepoder 4 years ago

You never EVER mentioned the word “FEEL”. You kept repeating “believe”.... but it’s not that people “believe” the changes but “feel” the changes. Some people is way more sensitive than others, we have the right to feel.....right? So, in my experience at the beginning I was so exceptical because of explanations like yours. I DID NOT BELIEVE... until the FEEL smashed my face and body....