Lunar links to your health

By Merill Haseen

HAVE you noticed feeling a little odd around the time of the full moon The next full moon will be on 9 January, 8 February and 9 March so take more notice of your moods around these times.

Research from Leeds University shows that you're not alone. It seems that five to six days after a full moon, GPs in the UK can expect to see 30,000 more patients than usual.

The moon has long been linked with madness, extreme behaviour and poor health, but there's little modern research into the so-called 'lunar syndrome.'

• In the mid-80s, doctors who were researching prostate problems found a significant link between the new moon and urinary retention.
• A senior officer of health officer monitored 1,200 inmates in the maximum-security wing in Leeds. For three months they kept a diary of their mood swings, violent behaviour and aggressive outbursts. There was a marked increase in violent incidents on either side of a full moon.
• Canadian and Chinese studies proved that women's menstrual cycles (in cases where no birth control pills were used) could be linked to the full moon.

Exactly why the moon should affect our health and behaviour in such a way is not known, claims Dr Richard Neal who led the research at Leeds University: 'Many explanations could be put forward, but we don't know and we probably never will,' he says.

The University of California blames the lack of a link between the moon and health on the advent of street lighting. Before modern lighting, the moon was a significant source of night-time illumination and would affect sleep patterns, causing sleep deprivation around the time of the full moon. This would have been enough to induce mania in susceptible patients.

There is a long-standing theory that because we are mostly made of water, lunar gravity pulls at us, like it does the sea, causing tissue tension, swelling and nervous irritability.

Indeed, the latest hypothesis is a tidal theory, based on the moon's gravitational pull. It's claimed that the moon's gravity affects the intracellular fluid in a part of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the part of the body that regulates body behaviour, sleep and temperature regulation.

However, critics point out that the moon's gravitational pull on us is a mere millionth of the earth's. Medical conditions/events which have been shown to be influenced by the full moon are:

• Absenteeism, alcoholism, anxiety, casualty-unit admissions, depression, diarrhoea, epilepsy, gout, insomnia, lunacy, menstrual cycles, murders, pseudo-gout, road accidents, sexual activity.

Have you noticed any changes in your own health or behaviour at the time of the full moon Share it with us. Click here to connect to our message board.