Ask any Emergency Room Nurse, Police Officer or Paramedic, and they will confirm that the full moon indeed has an overwhelming effect on the behavior of people.
In Shakespeare’s “Othello,” the maid Emilia tells Othello that the moon has drawn too close to the Earth — and driven men insane.
The idea that a full moon can stir up emotions, provoke bizarre behavior, and even cause physical illness isn’t just a literary trope. It’s a strongly held belief, even today.
In fact, one study says that nearly 81 percent of mental health professionals believe the full moon can make people ill.
As powerful as this ancient belief appears to be, there’s little science to back up the theory that a full moon causes a swift uptick in emergency room visits or mental health unit admissions.
Here’s what researchers have found about the moon’s effects on human bodies and behavior.
As far back as 400 B.C., physicians and philosophers blamed behavioral changes on the pull of the moon. The word “lunatic,” after all, came from the idea that changes in mental state were related to lunar cycles.
The connection between the two is even supported in historic legal treatises: Famed British jurist William Blackstone wrote that people gained and lost their ability to reason according to the moon’s shifting phases.
The possibility that humans could be affected by the moon’s cycles isn’t entirely groundless.
The ocean’s tides rise and fall in time with the moon’s phases, and several marine species – including reef coral, sea-dwelling worms, and some fish – have reproductive cycles that are roughly timed to lunar cycles.
Still, not many studies link the moon to human behavior and health conditions. Here’s what researchers can tell us about the connections that do exist between people and the full moon.
Full moon and your sleep
When the moon is full and bright, it may affect the quality of your sleep.
May affect sleep latency
In a 2014 analysis involving 319 people who’d been referred to a sleep center, researchers found that the full moon was associated with less deep sleep and increased REM (rapid eye movement) latency.
Sleep latency is the period between when you first fall asleep and when you enter the first stage of REM sleep. So, increased latency means it takes a longer time to get to REM sleep.
Other causes of REM sleep latency can include:
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sleep apnea
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alcohol use
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some medications
Deep sleep is believed to occur during your last period of REM sleep.
May affect men and women differently
A 2015 study of 205 people found that the full moon may affect sleep differently in males and females. Many females sleep less and have less REM sleep when the full moon phase is near, whereas males have more REM sleep close to a full moon.
In 2016, a group of researchers examined the sleep cycles of children in 12 countries. They found that the children slept 1 percent less during the full moon phase. However, they didn’t find any association between this change in sleep and significant difference in behavior during that period.
Though many studies point to an association between sleep and lunar cycles, not all of them do. A 2015 study involving 2,125 people found no link between the full moon and changes in sleep patterns.
