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2000, Number 6

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Salud Mental 2000; 23 (6)

Moon cycle effects on humans: myth or reality?

Muñoz-Delgado J, Santillán-Doherty AM, Mondragón-Ceballos R, Erkert HG

Language: English
References: 69
Page: 33-39
PDF size: 175.45 Kb.


ABSTRACT

For centuries, it has been of popular belief that the moon cycle influences human physiology and behavior. This is an idea which can be most suitably explained by chronobiology, given that the organisms behavioral patterns are the result of the interaction between their endogenous temporal programs which are the cause of biological rhythms and their tuning to external stimuli, both environmental and social. However, nonnatural effects, such as city noise and electric light, among others, may mask such interactions. Research on this subject has looked for the causal relation between moon cycles and physiological factors, such as: admissions to psychiatric hospitals, mental trauma, abnormal behaviour, criminal activity, suicidal attempts and homocide. Novertheless, this has been slanted to epidemiological studies with extensive population samples, obtaining contradictory results, most likely due to the statistical analyses used. The relation between moon cycles and sleep-awake phases in human beings has not bee n studied exhaustively and, therefore, has not provided convincing results. On the other hand, there are systematic studies using methods that are more robust in non-human animal species, purporting strong evidence concerning the activity rhythm alteration in relation to the moon phase. Therefore, to distinguish the factors that are probably masking the moon cycles effects on human life, it is necessary to carry out studies with more systematic recording methods and observations.


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