Lunar Madness

The theory doesn’t really have to do with staring at the moon, but with different phases of the moon affecting people’s behavior and psychology.

The words “lunar”, “lunatic”, and lunacy” can all be traced back to the name of the Roman goddess of the moon, Luna, and for thousands of years, people have been saying that the moon can have a profound affect on how people and animals think and act, having an impact on everything from the number of babies conceived and born to the quality of milk cows give to even how people vote in elections.

For all the anecdotal evidence that says the phases of the moon have an affect on our daily lives, a number of studies dispute it. From the Wiki page on the Lunar Effect:

‘A fifteen month study in Jacksonville, Florida also revealed at least no lunar effect on crime and hospital room admittance. In particular:

* There was no increase in crime on full moons, according to a statistical analysis by the Jacksonville Police Department. Five of the fifteen full moons had a higher than average rate of crime while ten full moons had a lower than average rate. The higher-than-average days were during warmer months.
* Statistical analysis of visits to Shands Hospital emergency room showed no full moon effect. Emergency room admissions consistently have more to do with the day of the week. [6]'

See the full Wiki page for an overview on both sides of the argument: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect

There may be some small grain of truth to that. Definitely not crazy/stupid, but it may effect your eyesight (I’m not sure if it does the way the sun does). But “lunar” is a derivative of one of the “base languages” like Latin, I read it somewhere, but too lazy to check up on it now. Most of the words we use in English come from latin origins.