Moonlight and the darker you

The suspicion that the moon might be affecting our moods and actions refuses to die down. A doctor colleague frantically approached me yesterday to seek help for an uncontrollable aggressiveness that he was experiencing towards his colleagues, patients, staff, and even his small child. When I opened the paper after having dispensed the usual advice to consult a psychiatrist, I realized that it was full-moon time, and that the moon had come as close to the earth as it possibly could.

One could argue that this was mere coincidence, but a possible link between the lunar cycle and its effect on mood and behaviour prompted me to explore the internet with Google throwing up 10 million results in a fraction of a second.

My suspicion was well founded as there were enough accounts. A police dispatcher recounted how full-moon nights were busy nights, when crime rates and murders soared, the police stations were full and people behaved aggressively. Back in the 1970s, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, found that homicides in Dade County, Florida appeared to rise and fall with the phases of the moon over a 15-year period. In other words, the murder rate rose with the full or new moon. A similar study from India was published in the prestigious Bitish Medical Journal in the 80’s from Patna.

 If the moon can cause tides in oceans by its gravitational pull, why can’t it affect our brains? Psychiatrist Arnold Lieber, theorizes that since humans are composed mostly of water (like the earth), our bodies might have "biological tides" in the brain that influence our emotions.

 Abnormal mood and behavior is often reffered to as ‘lunacy’, which is defined in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as "intermittent insanity once believed to be related to phases of the moon." In fact, in England in the 18th century, a person who committed a murder during a full moon could plead "lunacy" and get a lighter sentence.

 Hospital workers also seem to notice increases in strange behavior with the full moon. A study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine in 1987 found that 80 percent of emergency room nurses and 64 percent of physicians agreed that the moon affected their patients' behavior. In fact, the nurses were so overwhelmed by their workload during the full moon that they asked for bonus "lunar pay." The sections of staff who noted an association more often were mental health professionals, social workers and clinical psychologists.

 There are many however who pooh-pooh this theory as superstition. It is understandable as the moon’s presence in the sky often going unnoticed by most modern urban dwellers. But just as sailors and coastal fishermen swear by the lunar tides, the night sky may hold the key for some moody people  and observant policemen. 

As published  HT City( Hindustan Times) dated 6 May, 2012.