What comes to your mind when you think about the Moon, especially the Full Moon at night? I personally love the full Moon and tend to make a wish upon the Moon for myself, my family, and my loving friends.
Does the Moon influence our behavior or emotions? There's never been solid proof, but there is some new evidence suggesting that the Moon can affect sleep - and it doesn't matter whether you're n the country or the city! Let's explore the myths and reality of the Moon's power.
The Moon & Lunacy Connection
The Latin name for the Moon is 1. _____________, which is the root of modern words like "lunacy", "lunatic", and even "loon", as in "crazy as a loon." Even today, many doctors, nurses, police officers, and elementary school teachers agree that full Moons will bring out bizarre behavior.
The Moon & Sleep
According to one scientific study conducted in 2021, people go to bed and sleep for a shorter period of time in the days leading up to a full Moon. Specifically, people would go to bed 30 minutes later than average and sleep almost an hour less per night. This makes some sense because the light from the Moon after sunset is brighter on the days leading up to a full Moon. 2. "________________ Moon" in the autumn, so-named because it provided several nights of light for farmers to gather in their crops at the height of harvest. Every month, the nights leading up a full Moon bring more light to the evening.
Our sleeping patterns are controlled by our natural 3. _______________ rhythms - the day and night cycles driven by Earth orbiting the Sun. But there are also 4. _______________________ rhythms, which are tied to lunar cycles. Certainly, some animals will respond to both rhythms.
Anecdotally, you have to wonder if less sleep (whether interrupted sleep or going to bed later) for several nights in a row might lead to some irritability - and what you might call 5. "________________"!
The Moon & Lunacy
- There have been hundreds of studies about the Moon and lunacy. One study says more animal 6. _____________ (from cats, rats, dogs, horses) occur at the full Moon; another says there's no increase in dog 7. _____________.
- One shows an increase in 8. _______________ (such as assaults or homicides) around the full Moon.
- Calls to 9. _________________ prevention hotlines peak at the New Moon, not the Full Moon.
Even though we are not quite sure how you'd actually prove the connection between the Moon and lunacy, one explanation might be what psychologists call 10. "_____________________ bias". In other words, people are more likely to notice things that confirm a preexisting belief.
For example, if you are working in an emergency room, and something weird happens on the full Moon, your older and wiser colleagues nod and say, "Must be a full Moon." That is what they heard from their elders when they were new at the job, which is often called by psychologists 11. "communal ___________________".
How does a belief that strange things happen on the full Moon help us feel safer? The full Moon occurs only once every 29.5 days, which means the other 4 weeks of the lunar month should be less dangerous and unpredictable.
What do you think about the Moon? Does it influence behavior or emotions? Or is it all in our imagination and our dreams?
**Source from The Old Farmer's Almanac
Answers to the Blanks
1. Luna
2. Harvest
3. circadian
4. circalunar
5. moodiness
6 & 7. bits
8. crime
9. suicide
10. confirmation
11. reinforcement
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