Are we under the spell of the moon?

Have you ever lain awake at night, unable to sleep, or feeling more emotional than usual, and looked outside to see a full moon?

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Whether it’s feeling out of touch with oneself or tossing and turning at night, many criticise the moon as the root of these challenges. 

But does this celestial body actually affect us, or is it just a mere coincidence? 

The belief that the moon can influence human behaviour can be traced back several centuries. 

According to Royal Museums Greenwich, one of the oldest tales of the moon’s effect on people dates back to 172 BCE, when a Mesopotamian tablet was used to protect a king from the harmful consequences of a lunar eclipse. 

Greek philosopher Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, say the brain is sensitive to the effects of the moon. Thus, the term ‘the lunar effect’ was born. 

Healthline defines this phrase as the belief that “health and behaviour are altered during specific stages of the lunar cycle”.

Stephanie Johnson is a Melbourne-based astrologer with over 30 years of experience. Her business, Seeing With Stars, has helped many improve their personal and business lives.

“From an astrological point of view, astrologers have been using for hundreds, if not thousands of years, the influence of the moon on planet Earth,” she says. 

Johnson states there is a long history of people who govern their lives based on the moon’s cycles.

“A lot of people planted by the moon and till the soil according to the moon, and people still do today,” she says. 

“We're living in the age of reason, and by that I mean, if science proves it, then everybody says it’s true, but living by moon phases and tuning into the moon goes back aeons.” 

NASA states that there are eight lunar phases in total. In order, these are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. Every 29.5 days, this cycle starts over.

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In recent years, studies have been conducted to test whether different moon phases can influence human behaviour and physiological processes.

In 2021, Science Advances published a study which discovered there is a synchronisation of human sleep with the lunar cycle. 

The researchers used participants from both rural and urbanised areas to compare the results.

Those living in the rural environment were an Indigenous community from Argentina, with limited access to artificial light. In comparison, those from the urbanised setting were University of Washington students, who had exposure to artificial light. 

Results for both the Indigenous community and Washington students found that in the days leading up to a full moon, when moonlight is brighter in the evening, people are subject to falling asleep later and for a shorter period. 

Therefore, it was determined that moonlight “likely stimulated nocturnal activity and inhibited sleep” in rural environments such as the Indigenous community in Argentina.

For those living in industrial settings, the results from the University participants would be more applicable, as artificial light may imitate the way that early-night moonlight affected our ancestors.

Science Advances says the results “strongly suggest that human sleep is synchronised with lunar phases regardless of ethnic and sociocultural background, and of the level of urbanisation”.

There have also been studies conducted on whether there is evidence of mood changes being aligned with lunar patterns.

According to Nature, there are gravitational cycles that affect the ocean’s tides every time they occur. The moon’s gravitational pull on Earth creates high and low tides, which vary in strength depending on which phase the moon is in.

Medical News Today says “roughly 60%” of the human body is water. 

Alison Lasek, a Victoria-based astrologer, says in a similar way to how the moon controls water on Earth, the celestial body can affect the water inside humans.

“The full moon and the new moon are these sorts of really powerful points where the tides are shifted. Our bodies are made up of so much water that we're also really affected by these times,” she says.

“At the full moon moment, often a lot is moving around the emotional body and physical body, so people are definitely a bit more energised and stirred up.”

However, Lasek says she usually sees this behaviour in the lead-up to the full moon. After the moon phase, the frazzled energy that one may feel starts to dissipate.

Lasek says she has had clients who are nurses or paramedics asking for astrology readings because hospitals and ambulances are much busier at the full moon.

“So they're also sort of seeing it and thinking, okay, is there something here? And how could I work with this energy, or can I understand it and use it in my life?” she says.

Leading up to the full moon and during the phase, Lasek says there are many practices you can follow to help feel more aligned.

She recommends drinking more water and swimming to ground energy, while cutting back on caffeine and journaling to help calm the body. 

Being aware of the full moon when it appears is helpful. 

“[Reminding yourself that it’s a full moon] can help to calm us in the sense that we understand that things are happening exactly as they're meant to. It's all part of a bigger cycle. If we don't get as much sleep at the full moon, that's going to be okay,” Lasek says.

Although the full moon can be a time when one may feel more heightened emotions and struggle with sleep, this phase of the lunar cycle represents new insights and perspectives.

“Pause and know that it's sacred, that it's a really powerful and important moment in the lunar cycle, and you're not separate from all of these things that are going on out there,” Lasek says.

However, the belief in the moon’s influence on humans is no longer as strong as it was in ancient times. 

Despite the research conducted, there is no convincing evidence that the moon influences the body’s biological rhythms.

Stephanie Johnson says a lack of scientific evidence doesn’t mean the experience isn’t real.

“It might just mean that they're looking in the wrong place," she says.

It is difficult to disregard the fact that the rocky body has had a profound impact on human life. 

The topic is much debated, but the moon’s presence is always there. 

It can be comforting to know that the Earth’s ‘natural satellite’ is overhead, silently entwined with bodily rhythms.