alexch
24-04-2013, 03:48 PM
Hi all,
Just stumbled upon another piece of brilliant journalism in by Candace Sutton from news.com.au today's homepage:
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/pink-moon-and-lunar-eclipse-change-tide-of-human-emotions/story-fnet0he2-1226628493355
"While scientists have conducted little formal research about mood swings related to the tidal pull of the moon's phases, workers in institutions like hospitals and prisons notice that patients and inmates become more agitated and restless during full moon phases and the latter may be more prone to violence and self harm."
What utter nonsense! A simple "Google Scholar" search reveals a wealth of papers from respected peer-reviewed medical and astronomy journals, including research done in Australia:
"Results of effect-size estimates show that phases of the moon accounted for no more than 1% of the variance in activities usually termed lunacy. Alleged relations between phases of the moon and behavior can be traced to inappropriate analyses, a failure to take other (e.g., weekly) cycles into account, and a willingness to accept any departure from chance as evidence of a lunar effect. "
Rotton, J., & Kelly, I. W. (1985). Much ado about the full moon: A meta-analysis of lunar-lunacy research. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 286.
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"Objective: It is commonly believed that the full moon exerts an influence on violence and aggression in psychiatric settings. The literature to date is contentious. This study used a robust methodology to examine the hypothesis that there was an increased frequency of violent and aggressive behaviour among hospitalised psychiatric clients at the time of the full moon.
Method: Prospective data were collected in five inpatient psychiatric settings across the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. Morrison’s hierarchy of violence and aggression was used to rate behaviour. Lunar phases were clearly defined and Poisson regression used to examine relationships between lunar phase and violence. Extraneous temporal variation was considered.
Results: No significant relationship was found between total violence and aggression or level of violence and aggression and any phase of the moon."
Owen, C., Tarantello, C., Jones, M., & Tennant, C. (1998). Lunar cycles and violent behaviour. Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 32(4), 496-499.
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"There does not appear to be a reliable and significant association between the phase of the moon and incidence of completed suicide."
Lester, D., Brockopp, G. W., & Priebe, K. (1969). Association between a full moon and completed suicide. Psychological Reports, 25(2), 598-598.
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"Objective: To assess whether dog bites requiring hospital admission occur more at the full moon.
Design: Review of dates of admission for dog bites to accident and emergency departments, June 1997 to June 1998, compared with dates of the full moon.
Setting: All public hospitals in Australia.
Main outcome measures: Admissions for dog bites.
Results: 12 peak clusters of admissions were unrelated to the time of the full moon.
Conclusion: Dog bites are no more frequent on full moons than at any other time of the month. Sceptics rejoice."
Chapman, S., & Morrell, S. (2000). Barking mad? Another lunatic hypothesis bites the dust. BMJ, 321(7276), 1561-1563.
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I know only one group of people that are certainly affected by the full Moon - deep space observers and astro-photographers. There are documented cases of increased astro-photon deficiency and withdrawal symptoms, that seem to follow the lunar cycle and peak around the full Moon.
Cheers,
Alex
Just stumbled upon another piece of brilliant journalism in by Candace Sutton from news.com.au today's homepage:
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/pink-moon-and-lunar-eclipse-change-tide-of-human-emotions/story-fnet0he2-1226628493355
"While scientists have conducted little formal research about mood swings related to the tidal pull of the moon's phases, workers in institutions like hospitals and prisons notice that patients and inmates become more agitated and restless during full moon phases and the latter may be more prone to violence and self harm."
What utter nonsense! A simple "Google Scholar" search reveals a wealth of papers from respected peer-reviewed medical and astronomy journals, including research done in Australia:
"Results of effect-size estimates show that phases of the moon accounted for no more than 1% of the variance in activities usually termed lunacy. Alleged relations between phases of the moon and behavior can be traced to inappropriate analyses, a failure to take other (e.g., weekly) cycles into account, and a willingness to accept any departure from chance as evidence of a lunar effect. "
Rotton, J., & Kelly, I. W. (1985). Much ado about the full moon: A meta-analysis of lunar-lunacy research. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 286.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Objective: It is commonly believed that the full moon exerts an influence on violence and aggression in psychiatric settings. The literature to date is contentious. This study used a robust methodology to examine the hypothesis that there was an increased frequency of violent and aggressive behaviour among hospitalised psychiatric clients at the time of the full moon.
Method: Prospective data were collected in five inpatient psychiatric settings across the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. Morrison’s hierarchy of violence and aggression was used to rate behaviour. Lunar phases were clearly defined and Poisson regression used to examine relationships between lunar phase and violence. Extraneous temporal variation was considered.
Results: No significant relationship was found between total violence and aggression or level of violence and aggression and any phase of the moon."
Owen, C., Tarantello, C., Jones, M., & Tennant, C. (1998). Lunar cycles and violent behaviour. Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 32(4), 496-499.
-------------------------------------------------------
"There does not appear to be a reliable and significant association between the phase of the moon and incidence of completed suicide."
Lester, D., Brockopp, G. W., & Priebe, K. (1969). Association between a full moon and completed suicide. Psychological Reports, 25(2), 598-598.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Objective: To assess whether dog bites requiring hospital admission occur more at the full moon.
Design: Review of dates of admission for dog bites to accident and emergency departments, June 1997 to June 1998, compared with dates of the full moon.
Setting: All public hospitals in Australia.
Main outcome measures: Admissions for dog bites.
Results: 12 peak clusters of admissions were unrelated to the time of the full moon.
Conclusion: Dog bites are no more frequent on full moons than at any other time of the month. Sceptics rejoice."
Chapman, S., & Morrell, S. (2000). Barking mad? Another lunatic hypothesis bites the dust. BMJ, 321(7276), 1561-1563.
-------------------------------------------------------
I know only one group of people that are certainly affected by the full Moon - deep space observers and astro-photographers. There are documented cases of increased astro-photon deficiency and withdrawal symptoms, that seem to follow the lunar cycle and peak around the full Moon.
Cheers,
Alex