The Transylvania Effect

Despite the lack of scientific evidence, many people believe in the moon's ability to change their behaviour and hold an uncanny power over them.

Hospitals, police stations and emergency phone lines report a big surge of cases on full moon nights, and they all cannot be wrong every time.

A study published in The World Journal Of Surgery in 2011 explicitly pointed out that more than 40 per cent of medical staff is convinced that the lunar phases affect human behaviour.

This was later ‘debunked’ as subjective, citing a scientific analysis.

The academic literature in the 90s termed the effect of the lunar cycle on humans and even entire populations as the Transylvania Effect.

This is the belief that the moon produces psychological and physiological disturbances in the body and mind and can also be found in ancient literature.

• A full moon causes heavy dew in the brain, according to Pliny the Elder, a Roman author, naturist and philosopher. A moist brain then behaves in a ‘lunatic’ manner. The word lunatic, of course, refers to our moon, which is called Luna.
• Monseoc, another English word for lunatic, literally translates into ‘moon sick.’

Ancient calendars were based on the lunar cycles, with every new moon indicating a new phase.

The ancient agricultural societies had good use of the moon calendar, planning and arranging their crop harvest accordingly.

A 2013 research on a different topic retroactively reanalysed the sleep patterns of participants and combined them with the moon cycle to see if the moon is affecting the sleep pattern. They concluded that the lunar phase does influence human sleep, and works like gravity.

Many studies have continuously debunked the findings of sleep patterns being affected by the moon, but the fact is that the moon exerts a tidal force on water, and can very well have an effect on humans, even though it is not measurable scientifically.