According to ancestral myths, the full moon has an impact on mental health. TF1 info has relayed several studies which debunk this belief.
The next full moon will take place on October 28, 2023. This phase offers a full, round face every 29 and a half days which will shine more intensely at night. According to certain centuries-old beliefs, it also has a notable influence on the birth rate, allegedly higher when the star shines brightly. In the imagination collective, the full moon would also have harmful consequences on the psyche. It would be responsible for changes in consciousness, sleep disorders, feelings of anxiety, and even suicidal impulses. Are these founded beliefs, or a cosmic delusion? TF1 Info shared the findings of scientists on the subject.
The idea that full moon causes psychological disorders has been taken very seriously by researchers. Since the end of the 1960s, studies have been carried out. They all converge towards the same conclusion: the lunar phases would have no deleterious power on the population. Statistics prove it. In 1994, a study carried out by researchers from Cape Town Code, in Massachusetts, showed that psychiatric admissions were increasing not during the full moon. Nearly ten years later, a comparative research protocol was published in General Hospital Psychiatry. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of individuals received in psychiatric emergencies at the Sacré-Cœur hospitals in Montreal and the Hôtel-Dieu in Lévis did not increase either. On the contrary. TF1 summarizes that the contingent of patients welcomed by these services was even “slightly lower” during the full moon.
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The question of quality of sleep during the full moon
The full moon, on the other hand, would indeed have an effect harmful to sleep. A study published by the journal Science Advances revealed that sleep “starts later and is shortened on the nights before the full Moon. ” In question ? Higher brightness at night, which “altered the brain’s central biological clock,” which “delays the onset of sleep and shortens nighttime sleep time.” » This state of affairs was even more true at the time when electricity did not exist. Man was then all the more dependent on the light of the sun or the moon, on which he trusted. Furthermore, the lack of sleep observed today could well partly explain the mood swings and anxiety mentioned in the myths about the full moon…
Camille Bonvalet has an interest in societal subjects and feminist issues. She is also passionate about literature. Versatile, she appreciates the prose of Flaubert as much as that of Michel…