Totally believe the moon has many effects upon people. Having worked in Mental Health for over 6 years now, I can tell ya that there definitely seems
to be some corrolation between the phases of the moon and incidents of unwellness/mood change etc etc.
Even the way the moon appears, the glow it projects, can give clues as to how or whom may likely be effected. Okay...I'll try to explain that a
little better:
Its just something I noticed, having worked a number of years on 'sleep-over' shifts, awake night-watch and various evening support shifts...I
learnt to dread working any shifts within a 2-3 day span either immediately before, or more importantly after a full moon. For there was a marked
increase in levels of unwellness and general agitation amongst those patients/clients I helped support.
Also noticed that when the moon had a bright white glow to it...but didn't seem to have and 'haze' around it, just pure bright white...the people
who suffered from increased levels of agitation or decompensation were predominately those who suffered from schizophrenia and/or other principally
psychotic/altered cognition/delusional or hallucinatory based illnesses.
When the moon appeared to have a hazy radiant glow around it...that seemed to trigger an increase in agitation etc within people who predominately
suffered mood disorders, mainly increasing the occurances of a manic phase.
When the moon appeared to have 'rings' that radiated from it...that seemed to trigger an increase in agitation etc within people who predomiately
suffered from Borderline Personality Disorders, principally a depressive spiral.
...what I hated...absolutely HATED...were the times (though there were few) when the moon exhibited all the above...you simply knew you weren't going
to get any sleep for a few days...and you never did...it was ALL on
Why was this? Well...I do have some cultural beliefs as to why...but perhaps a more likely (or at least scientifically likely) reason is one
previously mentioned - that the moon phases affect water...more importantly, water that has a high level of salt, and our bodies certainly comprise a
great deal of that. Salts are very important to us...body salt levels impact greatly upon mood stability...as a number of mood stabalisers show.
Perhaps the moon phases alter the levels of salt within us, or within certain areas of us and thus prompts a mood change.
Peace,
ALIEN
[Edited on 2-5-2003 by alien]