From: Rebecca 24/06/99 12:05:34 Subject: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19574 My Mum used to work in a dementia ward a couple of years ago, nursing. She dreaded working (especially a night shift), when there was a full moon, even the day before and day after. She said that the old people who had dementia went nuts (in a word) and the whole time was bizzare. From: stella calvert 24/06/99 12:27:18 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19594 This is 1st year psychology. Its usually due to people expecting thing on specific days, ie full moons and drawing conclusions that the loonies are out. Where in reality there are no extra loonies out at all, only selective attention placed on events. From: Ramon Rodrigo 24/06/99 12:35:33 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19598 I disagree with the above posting. I also work as a psychiatric nurse and although research tends to indicate that there is no Lunar Lunacy experience indicates otherwise. There are possibly other factors at play. For instance during a full moon there is more light and people might be inclined to utilize this light. Also possible influence of the Moons gravity From: Terry Frankcombe 24/06/99 12:39:19 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19603 Also possible influence of the Moons gravity Are you suggesting that the amount of light falling on the moon somehow effects its gravitational attraction? ):-O From: phoebe 24/06/99 12:42:03 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19605 the old people who had dementia went nuts? wasn't there an old wives tale or something years and years back that said something about lunacy and the full moon? perhaps these people, being old enough to know it, were aware of this and acted on it subcounsciously? it would be a little like acting like you were told to or something, which isn't very nice i know. happiness again! phoebe From: Ramon Rodrigo 24/06/99 12:47:50 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19608 No I am suggesting that the amount of light affect the moons gravity. I am suggesting two different things. 1) There is more light and hence people can see more clearly under moon light hence they might get up to things they wouldnt if they coulnt see 2) that extra gravitational pull might affect the brain in some way. Afterall it has enough pull to raise the tides. From: Daryn Voss 24/06/99 12:51:36 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19611 The moon is not, in general, closer to the earth when it is full. It is just on the opposite side of the earth to the sun. This does mean that there is a big tide, but there is another such one at New Moon. Tidal effects are not cause by strong gravity fields, but by the difference in gravity fields across an object. (That is why the moon has a greater tidal effect than the sun, even though the sun has a greater gravitational pull on us.) The tidal effect across a persons head is so close to nil that you might as well forget it. I've just done some calculations; the differential gravity effect on my head due to a person of mass 70kg at a distance of 1m is greater than that of the moon (on my head). I don't have any stats on whether there is any statistical link between injuries and the phase of the moon, but I too have read that careful, clinical studies have shown that there is not. From: Ramon Rodrigo 24/06/99 12:57:47 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19613 I did not state that the moon was closer merely that it had more effect.The rising of the tide makes this point clearly. From: steve(primus) 24/06/99 14:19:16 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19662 The moon and the pacific ocean have approximately the same volume. Gravity causes a bulge in the Pacific of about two metres or so when the moon is overhead which is the tide. The effect of the moon's gravity on individuals is negligible. A cup of tea has more gravitational attraction. Every statistical study done has shown that there is no correlation between full moon and increased mania in mentally ill patients. The most likely reason for the myth is that during a full moon, before artificial light was around, more nutters were likely to be out - or to be seen than on a darker night. From: JIGGY 24/06/99 14:22:50 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19666 the moon does effect the human mind i worked in an ward and we would have to get ready on the full moon hence the name "luna"tic From: Ashley 24/06/99 14:27:51 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19671 I think it's like pavlov's dogs.... (a psychological experiment) this guy rang a bell every time before he fed some dog's....... and measured the amount of saliva they excerated.... after awhile the dog's would salavitate at the sound of the bell. People are so used to thining a full moons causes people to go nuts that they do it subconciously...... Ashley From: Ashley 24/06/99 14:28:22 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19674 I think it's like pavlov's dogs.... (a psychological experiment) this guy rang a bell every time before he fed some dog's....... and measured the amount of saliva they excerated.... after awhile the dog's would salavitate at the sound of the bell. People are so used to thinking a full moons causes people to go nuts that they do it subconciously...... Ashley From: Ashley 24/06/99 14:34:12 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19681 have you ever seen the footage of skinners research? (simmilar to pavlov, but more to do with reward and punishment than subconcious reactions) ...... it's way weird ashley From: Bronsky 24/06/99 14:37:59 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19684 If the guy who works in the coffee shop across the courtyard from where I work worked across from you you would see that thats not true. Every full moon he goes rabid..well not really...but he comes and converses with everyone and actually speaks in gibberish to anyone about...I even tried speaking his gibberish and it seemed he understood!!!!!! HA! From: Ashley 24/06/99 14:41:53 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19687 thats exactly my point, he's conditioned himself..... stimulus:response it's a full moon so he goes weird..... what I'm saying is that the moon dosent cause him to go weird, it's something in his head that has linked the moon to these episodes...... Ashley From: eyes 24/06/99 14:42:23 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19688 i love how people can take life and the brain two things we know nothing about and say it means nothing with no question but we know we dont know everything nowhere near all through history we have done this and we all ways look back and think how dumb they were "of cause the world is round" and we always close of our minds to other ways why do we do this From: JIGGY 24/06/99 14:46:42 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19694 what about those who dont know if its day or night full or not are you saying they have been told this when they can not be told any thing else From: Bronsky 24/06/99 14:47:45 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19695 You dont think it may have something to do with gravitational effects on the human body, or moreso to do with us as humans being located within the gravitational field produced between the earth and the moon? From: steve(primus) 24/06/99 15:51:29 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19741 One of the best claims I have heard recently is that it always rains on the full moon. The reason for this is that the moon gets bigger after the new moon and as it reaches its largest size at the full moon, it sucks the water into the air. With a crescent moon, if the crescent forms a cup, it won't rain because all the water is being held in the cup. You have to wait till the cup tilts to let the water out. So forget Copernicus, Galileo, Keppler, Newton etc this is 1999 meteorological astronomy as understood by quite a few farmers. From: James Richmond (Avatar) 24/06/99 19:49:46 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 19799 i love how people can take life and the brain two things we know nothing about and say it means nothing with no question We don't know nothing about life and the brain, but neither do we know everything about them. We know a lot, but still have a long way to go. but we know we dont know everything nowhere near all through history we have done this and we all ways look back and think how dumb they were "of cause the world is round" and we always close of our minds to other ways why do we do this That's a good point. It is arrogant to assume that we know everything about anything. Anyone who thinks we do is seriously deluding themselves. I agree with your comment about history, too. It is important when considering thoughts and decisions of historical figures and societies to try to put ourselves in the shoes of the people living at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20. Prediction almost never is. There is no evidence to suggest that human intelligence, as opposed to the sum total of human knowledge, has increased at all since ancient times. This is one reason why I find it so annoying when people say things like "The Egyptians could never have built the pyramids without help." The Egyptians were just as clever as us, and people today certainly have ideas as to how pyramids could be built using ancient technology. JR From: Stephen Bosi 25/06/99 22:31:48 Subject: re: RE: People and Full Moon post id: 20112 I posted this message quite a while ago, but none of you read it, so here it is again: From: Stephen Bosi 22/03/99 17:05:02 Subject: Full Moon & Lunacy post id: 4563 I thought I'd get in early and post this one BEFORE anyone asks about it. Many of you may be aware that many doctors and nurses in psychiatric hospitals swear that when there is a full-moon, the number of wild or violent incidents increases noticeably. Well a study performed by Prof. Cathy Owen of the School of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney has shown that there is no truth to this claim. She looked at hospital records of reported incidents and tried to correlate them with various factors assumed to be connected (including the lunar one). She also concluded that the doctors and nurses were more likely to believe in this lunar effect than their patients.<\font> This forum is un-moderated. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual poster and not the ABC. The ABC reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate messages.