It’s a windswept October’s night; a long howl echoes through the night, curling and searching its way through the misty streets. The clouds scud across the sky, flitting in and out of the shadows. Hanging in the sky, gazing over the world gone mad, sits a shining celestial body: the full moon.

Me and my coworkers are taking shelter behind the Hilly’s bar, there’s growling and zombie-esque moans coming from the other side of the bar, hordes of ‘crazies’ and crackheads are running rampant through Hamilton East, It’s the full-moon-apocalypse! Ok, I exaggerate, but regardless, there is a strange phenomenon where on nights with a full moon, the number of crazies that would come into the bar exploded, and their behaviour was notably more erratic, I’ve had firsthand experience with this, and my coworkers have attested to noticing this as well. Could the moon’s influence really be behind this?

From the menstrual cycle to driving people mad, since the dawn of time we have had a belief that the moon holds some kind of power over us, changing how we feel and act. While there is extensive anecdotal evidence and lived experience, apart from a few reliable sources, scientific research has widely proven to be inconclusive.

So, in what ways may the moon affect us? What have we felt and seen, and what could this be caused by?

Throughout my time Working at the Hillcrest tavern (no longer the shining light of Hamilton east, now a hole of degeneracy and old geezers), my coworkers and I bore witness to multiple examples of what I’ll be calling the ‘Luner effect’ i.e. abnormal behaviour that may be attributed to the position of phase of the moon. Examples of this include huge fights: I’m talking full on brawls, dudes getting their heads stomped on, glass jugs being used as weapons etc: near death experiences for the poor fella who looked at someone in the wrong tone: we experienced huge increases in the crazy turnout (number of crazies in the pub), and notable changes in their behaviour. This includes erratic and irrational anger, blankly staring at walls (or me…) for long periods of time, and just general super weird, freaky vibes (weirder then normal, I promise). All of this tended to coincide with the full moon.

This could be explained by research from T A Wehr, Bipolar mood cycles and lunar tidal cycles. (2018), a study that followed 17 patients with rapid cycling bipolar, tracking the times at which they switched from depression to mania. According to Wehr, they “detected synchronies between mood cycles and three lunar cycles that modulate the amplitude of the moon’s semi-diurnal gravimetric tides.” In English “there was some freaky shit going on ‘cause they went manic or depressive in sync with the moons phases.” It must be noted that the moon phase change didn’t always cause a switch, but if there was a switch, it was likely to occur in sync with the lunar cycle. I recommend you read the article.

When interviewed, I found that a significant number of people displayed some belief that the moon affected their behaviour, with some saying they feel unsettled, angry, or had heightened levels of emotions, both negative and positive. All these symptoms align with the behaviour exhibited by crazies and crackheads and are associated with bipolar behaviour, to a lesser extent. Perhaps we are all effected, but the severity of it is influenced by our mental stability and individual circumstance.

According to scholarly research, another way the moon affects us is by changing the way we sleep, Casiraghi L, et al, Moonstruck sleep: Synchronization of human sleep with the moon cycle under field conditions. (2021) claims that “Sleep is delayed and shortened preceding the full moon phase, both in absence of electric light and in modern urban societies.” Casiraghi spent two months monitoring the sleep behaviour of remote indigenous Toba/Qom communities of Argentina, as well as hundreds of university students living in the highly urbanised and post-industrial United states. Casiraghi hypothesised that that across such a divided sample, students would not be effected to the same level as the more remote participants, but found that there was consistency within the level of sleep lost by both groups “Our results show that sleep starts later and is shorter on the nights before the full moon when moonlight is available during the hours following dusk,” for both groups, equally. This is highly supported by anecdotal evidence, with several people claiming “I always sleep like shit on a full moon” and “I don’t feel well rested during full moons” when interviewed about their experience with the moon. What causes this change in sleep patterns is yet to be determined, but it is clear that there is a relationship between the phase of the moon and the quality and length of sleep that we get, regardless of the light we are exposed to.

Lack of/poor quality sleep is a well-known contributor to mental health, mood, and behaviour. It seems logical to assume that this could be the contributing factor to behavioural change exhibited during full moons that we’ve been looking for, or at least part of it.

So why may this be happening?

Some hypothesise that it’s due to the increased levels of light. A common rebuttal to this is the presence of artificial light from phones, streetlights, and buildings, making the increased moonlight have a marginal effect of overall levels of light, but doesn’t take into account the change in light levels. In the research above, Casiraghi states “the presence of similar lunar rhythms in sleep parameters in Seattle college students who may not be aware of the availability of moonlight” shows that perhaps the presence of artificial light does not impede on the moons ability to interfere with our sleep.

Another theorised source of this is the change in gravitational force that the moon exhibits on earth. While research is unclear about whether humans are affected directly by the moon’s gravitational forces, there is support for the idea that the moons triggers fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field, which we may be able to sense, and could contribute to subconscious behavioural and sleep changes.

But in reality? We can’t be sure. Not enough research has been done, and the research that has been down is contradictory and inconclusive. But for me, there’s something comforting about not knowing. It gives the whole phenomenon a mystical magical feeling, and heaven knows we need a little magic in this world.

So, what can we conclude?

Nothing concrete, unfortunately. We know the moon effects our sleep, and in turn, our behaviour, but not the mechanisms of this influence, or the larger impacts that this could have. But then again, maybe it’s all correlation, not causation. Maybe it’s all pseudoscience, all a coincidence, all superstition? Perhaps, but I believe it, even just for the fun of it.

So next time you’re feeling a little crazy, a little bit of a freak, feeling like you might grow hair and claws and howl at the moon, maybe it’s not all your fault, blame it on our lunar celestial body, our moon.