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Nature reflects our nature
The Moon and the Madness
“It is the very error of the moon
She comes more near the earth
Than she was wont
And makes men mad”
-William Shakespeare (Othello)
Unlike other planets, Earth has got only one per-
manent satellite i.e. Moon which makes it very
special. Not only for Earth but also for the in-
habitants of the earth, this astronomical body is
most special after the Sun. Moon is also taken
as a sign of beauty that’s why various songs and
poetries have been written and sung using Moon
as a metaphor for the beautiful face girls pos-
sess (“Yeh chand sa roshan chehra”).
Since moon revolves around the earth in an ellip-
tical path so there comes a point when the moon
is closest to earth called Perigee and also point
farthest called Apogee. If full moon coincides
with the Perigee then moon appears bigger and
brighter called Super Full Moon while on Apogee
it is Mini Moon. Interesting, isn’t it? So how much
do you observe the moon in your daily life? Can
you believe it has influence over you and on your
mental health to a certain extent?
plaining the unusual and weird behavior at night.
The word lunatic popularly used during late
1800s which means mad was derived from the
word “lunaticus” which means “of the moon” or
Moonstruck. “Lunar lunacy effect” or “Transylva-
nia effect” is popular in Europe which is believed
to mainly persist during the Middle Ages, when
human being transformed into Werewolves and
Vampires during the Full moon.
Not only in the past but still people believe that
during full moon all the strange activities like er-
ratic behaviors, fights, suicides, traffic accidents,
psychiatric patients getting out of control, etc. A
survey revealed 45% of college student believed
moon struck humans are prone to strange be-
havior, in fact, this belief has been held by mental
health professional more than laypeople. Amaz-
ingly, in 2007, the police department of the U.K.
added more officers to control the presumed
crimes during a full moon night.
According to a research done by the Universi-
ty of Basel on the effect of the full moon, they
concluded the significant impact of the full moon
on sleep quota of individuals taking more time to
sleep, decrease in the time of sleep, additionally
According to Universal law of gravitation “Every participants showed decreased level of serotonin,
particle attracts every other particle in the uni- which regulates the sleep and wake up cycle.
verse with a force which is directly proportional So, after reading this, I hope you somehow start
to the product of their masses and inversely pro- to believe that the moon has significant effect
portional to the square of the distance between on mental health but it’s good to be a skeptic
their centers”, which means every object that than to have blind faith so I recommend you to
you can think of with real mass and around you mark the next full moon day on your calendar
is affecting you with its gravitational force and so and observe yourself, your behaviors, feelings,
are you. Similarly, the gravitational force of the etc. and if by chance you find yourself creeping
moon is also acting upon every material on the by negative emotions like stress, anger or anxi-
earth, this also results in the rising of tides in wa- ety take a deep breath and embrace those feel-
ter bodies. This tidal effect of the moon is great- ings. Accept the fact that like the Moon, we too
est during the full moon. As you already know, go through phases, it is part of our life. Peace!
that human body is 70-80% of water, don’t you
think the moon also has an impact on your body
during this phase? According to Greek Philoso-
Prayon Joshi
pher Aristotle and Roman historian Pliny the El-
B.Sc. Environmental Science
der brain was the moistest organ in the human
4th Year (Batch-2015)
body hence mostly affected during the full moon.
“There must be a full moon out there” phrase
has been used over decades by people while ex-
Nature and Social Concern Society
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