[valinors_sorrow]

I don't know if this belongs under folklore or astronomy LOL so please bear with me. I know I have heard that Emergency Rooms experience a measurable upsurge around a full moon. My office seems to get a lot more than the usual weirdness then too. I am wondering do other people or businesses feel some repeating effect of a full moon?

[orange]

Yup my husband and father, who are both doctors, say the ER is much more busy on the full moon. Also my father says that he receives a lot more crisis calls at that time too, and more of his patients try to commit suicide around the full moon than at any other time, except Christmas, which is the worst for suicides.

And personally as a mom I've noticed the kids are more hyper around that time of the month, too.

[talaniman]

The Moon affects the ocean tides and in case you didn't notice we as humans are nothing but liquid enclosed with skin (how sexy is that picture?) So it is reasonable to assume that the Moon affects us also maybe in some strange and weird ways! AAAAAROOOHOOO! I love to howl when the moon is full!! It's the shaving after that pisses me off!:cool: :eek:

[Nez]

I love the full moon.I always trandform into:

[NeedKarma]

Honestly I wouldn't notice anything different happening on a full moon day/night unless it was pointed out to me.

[magprob]

A friend of mine once worked in a mental hospital. He said that during a full moon the place went mad! And, a few of them that had to be restrained would indeed howl! It was so bad that during a full moon, staff would call in sick much more than the usual rate because it was down right scarry.

[Northwind_Dagas]

Just to offer an opposing viewpoint, there is a theory that the reason there appears to be a full moon effect is that people remember things more when they have the full moon to associate it to. In other words, people are more likely to remember things when they see a full moon because they stand out.

There have been studies to the effect as well. In one such study of a hospital's emergency room calls, it looked like there was indeed a full moon effect. However, the day the full moon fell on (forgot which day of the week) was typically more busy than the days of the week prior.

I'm still undecided myself.

[valinors_sorrow]

Well, I know there was something I read (who knows where now LOL) that suggested in pre-electric lighting days that people were out more at night when the moon helped to light things up a bit. It suggested the extra night activity was carried forward culturally. But what I specifically seem to notice is more outright wierdness, not just more activity. :eek:

[aqua@home]

My aunt predicted the birth of her kids according to the full moon. She took her due date, checked out when the full moon would fall and said the day she thought her son or daughter would be born. SHE WAS RIGHT! She said she would never make it past the full moon.

Personally, I think we are affected by it. Unfortunately I am not always the most quick to connect the dots. LOL

[DrJ]

Back in the 1800s and before, if a crime was committed on a full moon, the convicted could actually claim "lunacy" and the sentence would then be reduced. Kind of like our "temporary insanity" plea except the only form of proof of lunacy was whether there was a full moon that night.

[Stormy69]

The full moon does indeed have an effect on people. I for one can not talk properly when it's a full moon. My words all come out backwards like verbal deslexia. My Sister is the same way.
However I do dance naked in the full moonlight:D

[JoeCanada76]

I knew a lawyer that said they got many many calls when there was a full moon. There is definitely evidence showing that people do go crazy, or that the moon does effect many systems. As above answers said that we are made up of mostly water so it makes sense if the moon effects the tides that it would also effect us.

[Cassie]

Well, I know there was something I read (who knows where now LOL) that suggested in pre-electric lighting days that people were out more at night when the moon helped to light things up a bit. It suggested the extra night activity was carried forward culturally. But what I specifically seem to notice is more outright wierdness, not just more activity. :eek:

Like longer hair, longer teeth, white make up

[Krs]

like longer hair, longer teeth, white make up

And longer nails and toe nails and hairy skin :D

[Capuchin]

Curlyben unlocked this just so I could add something. I hate to see when science loses out due to underrepresentation.

I think the real reason is, as Northwind Dagas says, you associate it with a full moon because it is a full moon. If someone is a bit nutty when the moon isn't full, you don't associate it with that, and just shrug it off.
This is the same effect as when some people claim that they are thinking of someone, and then their phone rings and it is the person they're thinking of. In this situation it's likely that they think of this person a lot, and they shrug off and don't remember the times when they were thinking of them and the phone didn't ring, and times when the phone did ring but it was someone different.
We have a tendency to forget non-events, and thus we have a repository of "evidence" of 2 things happening simultaniously which we assume is a relationship.

As for the people saying that "the moon affects tides and our body is made of liquid too so there is a connection there", this really grinds my gears.
Tides happen once a day, not once a month. It has absolutely nothing to do with moon phase. All that a full moon supplies is an increase in electromagnetic radiation reaching the Earth. Which isn't going to make anyone insane (the Sun happens to supply a bit of that stuff too).

I hope this helps add to the thread.

[Megg]

Personally I've never seen people act werid and go nut's, lol. Just because I have'nt seen doesn't mean it can't be true, however I agree with Capuchin. I think there I a more scientific and reasonable explanation to this phanomina. I mean, thus far I've heard hearsay. It's certainly an interesting topic of desscussion though.---sorry for my bad spelling.

[ordinaryguy]

thus we have a suppository of "evidence" of 2 things happening simultaniously which we assume is a relationship.

Did you mean repository? You do know what happens to a suppository, don't you? On second thought, maybe it's apt because you're telling people that they can shove their supposed "evidence" up their a$$. LOL I think you're probably right about it, by the way.

[Capuchin]

Haha yes, yes I did *edits*
Good catch!

[Teaching]

Something I read "the night of the full moon releases your soul".

[shygrneyzs]

I worked 11 years as a respiratory therapist and was in the ER more often than not many nights. But the full moon was the busiest. More ccidents, more of what could be called the odd events - people trying to do something they ought not have tried, and more fight related personal injuries. The ER nurses used to say the zoo was open during the full moon. They were right.

When I went to college back in the 70's, there was a group of students who practiced the full moon release ritual. There was this huge boulder on the edge of the grounds, below was a deep cutoff and then some sand and then a creek. The dorm was within a stone's throw away from the boulder. My room faced the west and I could look out and see them practice this. At that time, celebrations like this were a taboo. When the nuns who ran the college finally found out, it ended - at least on that site.

Full Moon Release Ritual