Does the moon really affect our body? How and why does this happen?
It so happened that the full moon causes us some spiritual awe and alertness. It is widely believed that on days and nights when the moon is full, there are especially many murders and suicides, disasters and accidents, conflicts and quarrels.
There is a myth that children are born more often on full moon days than at other times. German obstetricians decided to test this belief. They carefully, literally by the hour, analyzed the number of children born in one of the cities of Germany for a whole year. Their conclusion was unambiguous: there were no statistically significant bursts of birth of children on the full moon. They tried to put the blame on the moon for provoking murders and suicides. However, most scientific research does not find the slightest connection here.
American scientists have turned to statistics on ambulance hospital accidents, homicides, train accidents, and even the number of penalties in hockey games. The result is zero. The statistics of fatal accidents on the roads for 13 years were also studied. Scientists have stated that the day of the week, the season of the year, and other well-known factors have a much more real impact on the number of accidents.
Other American researchers have summarized the results of 37 scientific papers and found no confirmation of the special effect of the moon in any of them. They only managed to establish a connection between belief in such an impact and belief in rebirth, mysticism and the like.
Scientists from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) believe that this is a deep-rooted prejudice: “If a person believes that the full moon affects the body, he will be constantly alert and pay attention to everything that happens that night. But no one will ever say, “What a night! Not a single incident - and this is when the moon is full!"
The stories of "eyewitnesses" about the increase in sexual activity during the full moon in themselves or in their partners are classified by modern science as speculation. Almost 20 years ago, American chronobiologists scrupulously studied this problem. They stated the following fact: the relationship between the phases of the moon and libido is completely absent.
German psychologists from the University of Hannover strongly refute the widespread belief that the moon is responsible for insomnia. In his opinion, insomnia on a full moon is a consequence of trivial self-hypnosis: a superstitious person who accidentally slept poorly on a full moon a couple of times subconsciously programs himself for a sleepless night.