Does the moon actually inhabit people’s minds and make them do crazy things? Many people assume that the moon has an effect over the human body, that the moon has the power to change a person’s mind. Teachers, parents, doctors, grandparents, they all held some part of truth in this whole ordeal but they were wrong. Now before you go and laugh in their faces telling them how wrong they are you should know that it isn’t their fault. Scientists have just recently discovered that the moon has no effect on human behavior.

You probably already know some of the historical context revolving around the moon and its so called “powers”, but let’s review. The word “lunatic” comes from the Roman Moon Goddess “Luna”,  philosophers posited that the water in the brain might be subject to the same kind of tidal motions as the sea, which created a swarm of crazy theories regarding powers and possessions. Even today, some psychiatrists continue to hold up this watery brain theory. But while humans are indeed made of mostly water, this theory doesn’t hold any truth. A single study means nothing. No one has ever been able to show consistently, with multiple studies, that the full moon has any effect on behavior. In fact, when researchers Ivan Kelly, James Rotton, and Roger Culver reviewed over 100 of these studies back in 1991, they found none of them to show a significant relationship between the moon and human behavior. They found that most of the research had been conducted poorly and that those conducting the experiments had ignored other information.

So the next time your teacher tells you that you must be acting up because it’s a full moon tonight. They are wrong, and you are just a handful. Explain to them that the moon has no bearing on your physical or mental behavior.