Whenever things start to get crazy, you often hear people echoing the common phrase “Must be a full moon.” These leave a person wondering what a full moon has got to do with people’s behavior. The belief that the appearance of a full moon can cause people to go mad is ancient. Even words like lunatics, loon and loony are derivatives of the Latin word “luna,” which stands for “moon.”

Legends in urban life have it that things usually go haywire during the period of a full moon. According to modern folklore, veterinary offices and emergency rooms become busier whenever the moon is full. There is an increase in the rate of arson, suicide, and violent crimes. At this time, also, there is a spike in traffic accidents, and patients residing in psychiatric centers get more active. Some even associate epileptic seizures, sleepwalking, and women going into labor with a full moon. However, the question is, how valid is this claim?
Our People’s Behavior Affected by a Moon?
Proponents of the full moon effect believe that moon phases affect humans because our body composes 60% of water. Now, if you can remember, moon phases affect the tides of the ocean, and even create a bulge in the earth crust. Since the moon can do all that to nature, it can exert the same effect on our body—such as the reasoning of those who support the full moon effect.
All right, but what does science says about the full moon saga?
Science Opinion on Moon Phases
Due to the widespread belief in the full moon effect, many scientific studies were conducted to verify the claims. Unfortunately, almost all of them have yielded no meaningful result. All of the results have either failed to find any correlation between human behavior and the moon or were later debunked and cast away by other research findings that questioned the integrity of their methods.

Moreover, scientists waste no time in pointing out that earthly objects have far-reaching effects on one another compared to the moon’s effect. George Abell, an astronomer, popularly postulated that a mosquito that sits on your arm creates more gravitational weight on your body beyond what the moon can do.
Despite this scientific proof, why is the belief still very much firm among people? Even emergency workers and the police believe that the full moon makes people go crazy in behavior. A hypothesis posted in the Journal of Affective Disorders in 1999 stated that sleep deprivation that occurs from the brightness of the full moon might have worsened the case of existing mental disorders. Following the creation of electric lights, the authors stated the effect was negated, and that is why contemporary studies have found no single correlation.
However, some maintain that the belief in the full moon effect is still widespread because of confirmation bias—the idea that individuals readily favor information that side with their narrative. Therefore, if you expect people around you to behave abnormally during a full moon cycle, any uncommon behavior you witness during that time would reinforce that belief.
That is how a full moon makes people crazy in the eye of others.
This blog was written by Linda Rawson, who is the founder of DynaGrace Enterprises (dynagrace.com) and the inventor of WeatherEgg (weatheregg.com). For further information, please connect with Linda on LinkedIn, or contact her at (800) 676-0058 ext 101.