May 4, 2020 • 11 mins
Thank you to Best Fiends for sponsoring this episode. Download for free on Google Play or iTunes Store now. https://download.bestfiends.com
Show Notes:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lunacy-and-the-full-moon/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect
https://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar-effects.html
Redelmeier, D; Shafir, E (11 December 2017). "The full moon and motorcycle related mortality: population based double control study". BMJ. 359.
Owen, C.; Tarantello, C.; Jones, M.; Tennant, C. (1998). "Lunar cycles and violent behaviour". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 32 (4): 496–499. doi:10.3109/00048679809068322. PMID 9711362.
Barr, W. (2000). "Lunacy revisited: The influence of the moon on mental health and quality of life". Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Service. 38 (5): 28–36. PMID 10820695.
Show Notes:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lunacy-and-the-full-moon/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect
https://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar-effects.html
Redelmeier, D; Shafir, E (11 December 2017). "The full moon and motorcycle related mortality: population based double control study". BMJ. 359.
Owen, C.; Tarantello, C.; Jones, M.; Tennant, C. (1998). "Lunar cycles and violent behaviour". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 32 (4): 496–499. doi:10.3109/00048679809068322. PMID 9711362.
Barr, W. (2000). "Lunacy revisited: The influence of the moon on mental health and quality of life". Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Service. 38 (5): 28–36. PMID 10820695.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Warning, The following podcast may containdescriptions that some listeners may find a stressing.
Listener discretion is advised. Any viewsare all our own and do not
in any way reflect the places wherewe work. Hello and welcome to Minimad
(00:26):
or Bad. My name is Rachel, and today we are discussing lunacy at
the moon. This is the verylast of our minimad and Bad for a
little while. Enough for now.So when things are particularly hectic or unsettled
at work, whether it be inmental health or not, staff always ascribe
it to their being a full moon. Does a full moon really trigger stranger
(00:50):
on set behavior? And whether thisis based on science or not we shall
find out today. So first andforemost, just a little bit of history
to explain the term lunacy and howit relates to the moon. The Roman
goddess of the moon bore a namethat remains familiar tru today, lunar prefix
of the word lunatic. I likethe name lunars. I want my child
(01:12):
named after a lunatic. No,no, it is nice, and fully
enough, I'd never even thought thatthe term lunacy and lunar. So you
know the moon, So the termlunacy and the moon had anything to do
with each other. Greek philosopher Aristotleand Roman historian Cleaning the Elder suggest that
the brain was the quotes more.I can't even say this moist moistest.
(01:37):
I hate that word. There's goingto be a lot of people being like,
oh my god, the moistest organin the body, and they're about
most susceptible to the pernicious influences ofthe moon, which triggers the tides.
I mean that's fact, isn't it. Obviously moon tides. Well, that
bit's fact, But obviously the brainis the moistest back to the body believe
(01:59):
in. Then, a lunacy effect, or Transylvania effect, as it was
sometimes called, persisted in Europe throughthe Middle Ages, when humans were rightly
reputed to transmography into werewolves or vampiresdoing a full moon. I mean,
that's a lot of people full mooninto vampires. Yeah, many people believe
a full moon in sides increased psychiatrichospital admissions, homicides, suicides, and
(02:22):
traffic accidents. I mean I don't. I mean when I've kind of done
late shifts or night so I've neverreally pay attention to what the Moon's doing,
to be honest with you, SoI don't know if I don't know,
if that's I once worked for theRed Moon, for the Red Moon.
Yeah, what do you mean forthe Red Moon? I worked the
(02:45):
night the Red Moon was like acompany. No, maybe it should be
some kind of psychiatric mental healthcare company. Oh okay, yeah, and it
was very settled. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't know.
In two thousand and seven, severalpolice departments in the UK even at the
officers on full moon nights in aneffort to cope with presumed higher crime rate.
(03:07):
And that knots that is that isfact. I mean, it's creat
gray. So some people theorize thatthe moon has a gravitational effect on water,
so it must have a gravitational effecton the water in the human body.
We know about we know about tides, and that's obviously real thing organ
the brain. Yeah, in theory, this sounds quite plausible, as the
(03:29):
body is obviously made up of seventypercent water. However, there's absolutely no
scientific evidence to support that this wouldan any way, shape or form have
an effect on brain activity. Tofurther dispel the myth, if you think
about it, the lunar gravitational effectis the same every day of the year
three six five days of the year, and not just when there's a full
moon. So it doesn't really makesense to even think this way. Really,
(03:51):
it wouldn't make any difference on Yeah, so many scientists have sorts prove
the theory of the lunar effect.Consider number of studies of examined the effects
on humans. By the late nineteeneighties, there are at least forty published
studies on the purported lunar lunas aconnection and at least twenty published studies on
the purported lunar birth right connection.Following a university psychologist James Rotten Or Rotten,
(04:19):
Colorado State University, Astromeno, RogerCulver, and universities Catchuan, Hello,
mad or bad listeners, I justwanted to take some time to a
massive thank you to Best Fiends wouldbe the sponsor of this episode. Best
Fiends is a fun puzzle game thatyou can play on your phone, whether
online or offline. Since being onMaternity Leaven having the baber, you know,
(04:42):
I've needed something to keep my braina little bit active. So this
is really the perfect thing for me, you know, I can pick it
up, I can put it down. It's challenging, but it's not too
challenging either. But it is madefor adults. But I just I really
enjoy how casual it is. Actually, you know, anyone can play on
a level sixty at the moment,and I'm really enjoying it. I'm really
enjoying how bright and cute and colorfulit is. And you know, the
(05:08):
Best Fiends people, they update thegame every month and there's always something new
and something exciting to work towards,which is really great. So it's really
no wonder this game is so popular. So engage a brain with fun puzzles
and collect tons of cute characters.Trust me. With over one hundred million
downloads, there's five star rated mobilepuzzle game is a must play Downlold Best
(05:29):
Fiends free on the Apple App Store, a Google play and let us know
on social media how much you wereenjoying the game. That's Friends without the
Best Fiends Saskatchewan. Yeah, yeah, I don't. Psychologist iving W.
Kelly of search far and wide forany consistent behavioral effects of the full Moon.
In all cases they have come upempty handed. By combining the results
of multiple studies and treating them asthough there were one huge study a statistical
(05:55):
procedure called meta analysis, they'll findthat full moons are entirely related to host
of events, including crime, suicide, psychiatric problems, and crisis center calls.
In the nineteen eighty five review ofthirty seven studies entitled much Ado about
the full Moon, which appeared inone of psychology's premier journals, Psychological Bulletin,
(06:17):
Rotten Kelly humorously bid adieu to thefull moon effect and concluded that it
was all bullocks for the research wasunnecessary. Let's take a look at some
studies on behavior in the moon.An analysis of mental health data found a
significant effect of moon phases, butonly on schizophrenic patients, but a more
(06:40):
recent study found that no such correlationactually existed to that of non schizophrenic human
beings. A study of thirteen thousandmotorcyclists killed in nighttime crashes found that there
was five point three percent more fatalitiesand nights with a full moon compared to
other nights. The authors speculate thatthe increase might be due to visual distractions
(07:00):
created by the moon, especially whenit is near the horizon and appears abruptly
between trees, around turns, etc. A two thousand and five studied by
Mayo Clinic researchers reported in the journalPsychiatric Services, looked at how many patients
checked into psychiatric emergency department between sixpm and six am over several years,
and they found no statistical difference inthe number of visits on the three nights
(07:24):
surrounding full moons versus you know,other normal nights. Researchers examined one hundred
and fifty thousand, nine hundred ninetynine. That's a very why didn't they
go for one hundred records of emergencyroom visits to a suburban hospital. Their
study, reported in American Journal ofEmergency Medicine in nineteen ninety six, found
(07:46):
no difference at full moon versus othernight, And that's quite a large kind
of you know, looking at oneundred and fifty one. Yeah. The
thing is like, if you're lookingfor something, you'll kind of find a
but if from a research point ofview, it's in there or it's not
before, Like if you're you know, if you're working and it happens to
be very chaotic, you'll kind ofascribe that to the full moon wun't.
(08:09):
Yeah, I mean people say,I mean I remember when I first started
in you know, I mean I'dheard about it, you know, people
saying about it. What must bea full moon to not But yeah,
I say you say that. Butfrom my experience when they also say,
oh, you can't say the keyword, I hate when people say that.
I'm like, that's so irritating.I will say the qy word.
(08:30):
I will say. I'll say it'sgoing to be quiet or it is quiet.
But that doesn't jinx anything. Itdoesn't make any difference. Ballocks.
Several research just point to one lightlyanswer. When strange things happen at full
moon, people notice the coincidental bigbright orb in the sky, and when
strange things happened during the rest ofthe month, they're just considered stranger,
(08:50):
abnormal. But crucially, people don'ttie them to celestial mystical events. Yeah,
because something happens, you think,oh, yeah, it's a full
moon. Yeah, definitely, youlook for it. You look for an
explanation, don't you. Human nature. Really, if police and doctors are
expecting that full moon nights will bemore hectic, the main temper and ordering
knights, traumas and crisis in thatway. It's kind of like a biased
thing, isn't it. Yeah,it's almost a self for full of prophecy.
(09:13):
Our expectations influence our perceptions, andwe look for evidence that confirms our
beliefs. It's also very likely thata lot of these beliefs derive from medy
depictions of the full moon, asmany movies depict strange happenings during formunes.
The fact that we think the moonmakes us crazy maybe lunacy itself. Oh
well, that's interesting though, isn'tYeah. I think we've research. I
(09:35):
think we've put to bed that is. It's definitely not thing I do.
I always found it interested at themoon, like has a thing on the
tides anyway, I thought that waskind of weird. Does that happen with
like other planets and stuff as well? Because they like other planets have like
one maybe even more moon. Yeah, I'm not sure. We might start
to astrology. I love astrology,but I'm not near smart enough to actually
(09:58):
on stand any of it. Ididn't find it really interesting. What's that
guy called? Yeah? I likehim because he makes it like kind of
popular and cooel wells get into.He's a dude, he's been a shitty
band, didn't he was it?Do wee myself in the early nineties place.
I don't know. I can imaginehim being in a shitty band.
He's a cool guy. I dolike them. So, yeah, this
(10:20):
has been the last minimad or Bad. So thank you so much for listening.
Thank you, and we will catchyou on our full length episodes every
second week, and we'll be backwith a new minimnut. We'll be back
with a new minimat or Bad whenwe've we've been thinking of a few things
up with you. When you comeup with another idea, yeah, just
(10:41):
like another another. We were thinkinglike celebrity debts, like mysterious celebrity debts.
Yeah, so for instance, whatwas gone. Well there's people saying
didn't kill him? You know,it's interesting regard you know Brittany mur phase
another one. Yeah, there's loadsthe roads. It's actually so let's do
(11:09):
that. Just made the decision anyway, Stay safe, yes, stay safe,
and we will see you soon.Goodbye.
Warning, The following podcast may containdescriptions that some listeners may find a stressing.
Listener discretion is advised. Any viewsare all our own and do not
in any way reflect the places wherewe work. Hello and welcome to Minimad
(00:26):
or Bad. My name is Rachel, and today we are discussing lunacy at
the moon. This is the verylast of our minimad and Bad for a
little while. Enough for now.So when things are particularly hectic or unsettled
at work, whether it be inmental health or not, staff always ascribe
it to their being a full moon. Does a full moon really trigger stranger
(00:50):
on set behavior? And whether thisis based on science or not we shall
find out today. So first andforemost, just a little bit of history
to explain the term lunacy and howit relates to the moon. The Roman
goddess of the moon bore a namethat remains familiar tru today, lunar prefix
of the word lunatic. I likethe name lunars. I want my child
(01:12):
named after a lunatic. No,no, it is nice, and fully
enough, I'd never even thought thatthe term lunacy and lunar. So you
know the moon, So the termlunacy and the moon had anything to do
with each other. Greek philosopher Aristotleand Roman historian Cleaning the Elder suggest that
the brain was the quotes more.I can't even say this moist moistest.
(01:37):
I hate that word. There's goingto be a lot of people being like,
oh my god, the moistest organin the body, and they're about
most susceptible to the pernicious influences ofthe moon, which triggers the tides.
I mean that's fact, isn't it. Obviously moon tides. Well, that
bit's fact, But obviously the brainis the moistest back to the body believe
(01:59):
in. Then, a lunacy effect, or Transylvania effect, as it was
sometimes called, persisted in Europe throughthe Middle Ages, when humans were rightly
reputed to transmography into werewolves or vampiresdoing a full moon. I mean,
that's a lot of people full mooninto vampires. Yeah, many people believe
a full moon in sides increased psychiatrichospital admissions, homicides, suicides, and
(02:22):
traffic accidents. I mean I don't. I mean when I've kind of done
late shifts or night so I've neverreally pay attention to what the Moon's doing,
to be honest with you, SoI don't know if I don't know,
if that's I once worked for theRed Moon, for the Red Moon.
Yeah, what do you mean forthe Red Moon? I worked the
(02:45):
night the Red Moon was like acompany. No, maybe it should be
some kind of psychiatric mental healthcare company. Oh okay, yeah, and it
was very settled. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't know.
In two thousand and seven, severalpolice departments in the UK even at the
officers on full moon nights in aneffort to cope with presumed higher crime rate.
(03:07):
And that knots that is that isfact. I mean, it's creat
gray. So some people theorize thatthe moon has a gravitational effect on water,
so it must have a gravitational effecton the water in the human body.
We know about we know about tides, and that's obviously real thing organ
the brain. Yeah, in theory, this sounds quite plausible, as the
(03:29):
body is obviously made up of seventypercent water. However, there's absolutely no
scientific evidence to support that this wouldan any way, shape or form have
an effect on brain activity. Tofurther dispel the myth, if you think
about it, the lunar gravitational effectis the same every day of the year
three six five days of the year, and not just when there's a full
moon. So it doesn't really makesense to even think this way. Really,
(03:51):
it wouldn't make any difference on Yeah, so many scientists have sorts prove
the theory of the lunar effect.Consider number of studies of examined the effects
on humans. By the late nineteeneighties, there are at least forty published
studies on the purported lunar lunas aconnection and at least twenty published studies on
the purported lunar birth right connection.Following a university psychologist James Rotten Or Rotten,
(04:19):
Colorado State University, Astromeno, RogerCulver, and universities Catchuan, Hello,
mad or bad listeners, I justwanted to take some time to a
massive thank you to Best Fiends wouldbe the sponsor of this episode. Best
Fiends is a fun puzzle game thatyou can play on your phone, whether
online or offline. Since being onMaternity Leaven having the baber, you know,
(04:42):
I've needed something to keep my braina little bit active. So this
is really the perfect thing for me, you know, I can pick it
up, I can put it down. It's challenging, but it's not too
challenging either. But it is madefor adults. But I just I really
enjoy how casual it is. Actually, you know, anyone can play on
a level sixty at the moment,and I'm really enjoying it. I'm really
enjoying how bright and cute and colorfulit is. And you know, the
(05:08):
Best Fiends people, they update thegame every month and there's always something new
and something exciting to work towards,which is really great. So it's really
no wonder this game is so popular. So engage a brain with fun puzzles
and collect tons of cute characters.Trust me. With over one hundred million
downloads, there's five star rated mobilepuzzle game is a must play Downlold Best
(05:29):
Fiends free on the Apple App Store, a Google play and let us know
on social media how much you wereenjoying the game. That's Friends without the
Best Fiends Saskatchewan. Yeah, yeah, I don't. Psychologist iving W.
Kelly of search far and wide forany consistent behavioral effects of the full Moon.
In all cases they have come upempty handed. By combining the results
of multiple studies and treating them asthough there were one huge study a statistical
(05:55):
procedure called meta analysis, they'll findthat full moons are entirely related to host
of events, including crime, suicide, psychiatric problems, and crisis center calls.
In the nineteen eighty five review ofthirty seven studies entitled much Ado about
the full Moon, which appeared inone of psychology's premier journals, Psychological Bulletin,
(06:17):
Rotten Kelly humorously bid adieu to thefull moon effect and concluded that it
was all bullocks for the research wasunnecessary. Let's take a look at some
studies on behavior in the moon.An analysis of mental health data found a
significant effect of moon phases, butonly on schizophrenic patients, but a more
(06:40):
recent study found that no such correlationactually existed to that of non schizophrenic human
beings. A study of thirteen thousandmotorcyclists killed in nighttime crashes found that there
was five point three percent more fatalitiesand nights with a full moon compared to
other nights. The authors speculate thatthe increase might be due to visual distractions
(07:00):
created by the moon, especially whenit is near the horizon and appears abruptly
between trees, around turns, etc. A two thousand and five studied by
Mayo Clinic researchers reported in the journalPsychiatric Services, looked at how many patients
checked into psychiatric emergency department between sixpm and six am over several years,
and they found no statistical difference inthe number of visits on the three nights
(07:24):
surrounding full moons versus you know,other normal nights. Researchers examined one hundred
and fifty thousand, nine hundred ninetynine. That's a very why didn't they
go for one hundred records of emergencyroom visits to a suburban hospital. Their
study, reported in American Journal ofEmergency Medicine in nineteen ninety six, found
(07:46):
no difference at full moon versus othernight, And that's quite a large kind
of you know, looking at oneundred and fifty one. Yeah. The
thing is like, if you're lookingfor something, you'll kind of find a
but if from a research point ofview, it's in there or it's not
before, Like if you're you know, if you're working and it happens to
be very chaotic, you'll kind ofascribe that to the full moon wun't.
(08:09):
Yeah, I mean people say,I mean I remember when I first started
in you know, I mean I'dheard about it, you know, people
saying about it. What must bea full moon to not But yeah,
I say you say that. Butfrom my experience when they also say,
oh, you can't say the keyword, I hate when people say that.
I'm like, that's so irritating.I will say the qy word.
(08:30):
I will say. I'll say it'sgoing to be quiet or it is quiet.
But that doesn't jinx anything. Itdoesn't make any difference. Ballocks.
Several research just point to one lightlyanswer. When strange things happen at full
moon, people notice the coincidental bigbright orb in the sky, and when
strange things happened during the rest ofthe month, they're just considered stranger,
(08:50):
abnormal. But crucially, people don'ttie them to celestial mystical events. Yeah,
because something happens, you think,oh, yeah, it's a full
moon. Yeah, definitely, youlook for it. You look for an
explanation, don't you. Human nature. Really, if police and doctors are
expecting that full moon nights will bemore hectic, the main temper and ordering
knights, traumas and crisis in thatway. It's kind of like a biased
thing, isn't it. Yeah,it's almost a self for full of prophecy.
(09:13):
Our expectations influence our perceptions, andwe look for evidence that confirms our
beliefs. It's also very likely thata lot of these beliefs derive from medy
depictions of the full moon, asmany movies depict strange happenings during formunes.
The fact that we think the moonmakes us crazy maybe lunacy itself. Oh
well, that's interesting though, isn'tYeah. I think we've research. I
(09:35):
think we've put to bed that is. It's definitely not thing I do.
I always found it interested at themoon, like has a thing on the
tides anyway, I thought that waskind of weird. Does that happen with
like other planets and stuff as well? Because they like other planets have like
one maybe even more moon. Yeah, I'm not sure. We might start
to astrology. I love astrology,but I'm not near smart enough to actually
(09:58):
on stand any of it. Ididn't find it really interesting. What's that
guy called? Yeah? I likehim because he makes it like kind of
popular and cooel wells get into.He's a dude, he's been a shitty
band, didn't he was it?Do wee myself in the early nineties place.
I don't know. I can imaginehim being in a shitty band.
He's a cool guy. I dolike them. So, yeah, this
(10:20):
has been the last minimad or Bad. So thank you so much for listening.
Thank you, and we will catchyou on our full length episodes every
second week, and we'll be backwith a new minimnut. We'll be back
with a new minimat or Bad whenwe've we've been thinking of a few things
up with you. When you comeup with another idea, yeah, just
(10:41):
like another another. We were thinkinglike celebrity debts, like mysterious celebrity debts.
Yeah, so for instance, whatwas gone. Well there's people saying
didn't kill him? You know,it's interesting regard you know Brittany mur phase
another one. Yeah, there's loadsthe roads. It's actually so let's do
(11:09):
that. Just made the decision anyway, Stay safe, yes, stay safe,
and we will see you soon.Goodbye.
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