The moon drives people crazy, prevents sleep and can even cause convulsions. But full moon and the super moon are a matter of admiration for the earthlings; does it really have such an influence on us?
"I am convinced that any effect of a supermoon on health and well-being of a man is not associated with any astronomical or physical effects," - says Rick Feinberg, professor of astronomy. – "There are no physical phenomena that would have such an effect on health."
Feinberg believes that people attribute to the moon special properties when they see it full and bright.
"Idea that under the influence of moon (full as a rule) people begins to behave in a strange way appeared around the first century AD," – says Professor Merrill Kaplan, specialist in folklore. And added: "In the old days, seizures of epilepsy were even called "moon illness".
Scientists are constantly studying this subject, and that's what they managed to find out.
Results of surgical operations.
They say that when full moon the number of patients in the intensive care units is increasing. Even doctors believe in it. German scientists decided to check it and analyzed the medical records of almost 28,000 patients who were in the intensive care unit from 2001 to 2010. Researchers compared operations conducted in a full moon, with operations conducted in ordinary days. None of these factors influenced the loss of blood and the outcome of surgical operations.
Convulsions.
Some researchers believe that a full moon can provoke convulsions. They analyzed the neurological findings of 850 emergency room patients from 1999 to 2003 with convulsions. They noticed a significant increase in the number of cases in the full moon period. 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.
Very widely held beliefs, even among psychologists, that the moon affects the human psyche, said researchers at the Royal University of Canada. They analyzed the data of 1800 patients, whose mental state became the reason for calling emergency. Scientists looked at the statistics of cases during the four phases of the lunar cycle. By the results of the study it became clear that the phases of the moon were not related to the number of cases of mental attacks.
Moon Dream.
In a small Swedish study with the participation of 33 people, the scientists revealed a phase indicator of deep sleep with the help of an encephalogram, and noticed a 30% decrease in the periods of the full moon. The duration of falling asleep lasted 5 minutes longer, and the total duration of sleep decreased by 20 minutes. But repeated study failed to demonstrate confirmation of these results.
Conclusion.
Probably, the influence of the moon on each person is individual and depends only on personal perception. If a person believes in power of a full moon, than most likely, he will feel this influence on himself.
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