Donald Redelmeier And The Moon’s Ability To Enchant

The British Medical Journal published some studies by Donald Redelmeier on the effect of the moon. According to these, full moon increases fatal traffic accidents. The researcher concluded this after collecting and analyzing a number of data from several countries around the world.

Donald Redelmeier’s studies made the Christmas issue of the mentioned magazine. This type of issue comes out once a year and includes fun, striking and surprising research, always based on scientific facts.

Humans have known about the moon’s ability to enchant for a long time. It continues to inspire poets, lovers and scientists just as it has done in the past. The moon shines at night like an oasis in the middle of a mystery. However, does it actually have such an impact on humans that it leads to fatalities? Donald Redelmeier’s studies seem to prove this.

Donald Redelmeier and his studies

Donald Redelmeier’s studies have a statistical basis. This researcher, who works at the University of Toronto, together with another researcher, his colleague Eldar Shafir at Princeton University, made a unique analysis. They monitored traffic accidents between 1975 and 2014, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

They looked for patterns and they certainly found them; even if it was not exactly what they expected. Thanks to their research, they discovered that fatal traffic accidents seemed to increase, and as a consequence, the number of injured and dead during full moon nights.

According to their data, there were 988 nights where there was no full moon during the period they studied. 8,535 traffic accidents occurred during that time, leading to an average of 8.64 fatalities each night.

During the same period, of the 494 nights with full moons, 4,494 traffic accidents occurred with an average of 9.1 deaths per night. The average during the so-called “supermoon” increased to 10.6 deaths per night.

They attribute them to the enchantment of the moon. In fact, they found that many drivers are fascinated by the beauty of the moon and are distracted. Thus, this is what leads to more accidents.

The enchantment of the moon according to Donald Redelmeier

Donald Redelmeier’s studies are an anecdotal way of answering a question that people have been asking themselves for thousands of years. What influence does the moon have on human behavior? The legend of the “werewolf” is a fantastic way to respond: The animal instincts emerge at full moon.

Beyond imagination, there are many who continue to postulate the influence the moon has on animal behavior. Without going too far, Aristotle was convinced that attacks of madness and epilepsy occurred in direct relation to the phases of the moon. In addition, Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, fully agreed with this hypothesis.

In fact, the word “maniac” is part of the regular vocabulary and refers to abrupt changes in behavior, especially during full moon nights. There are several scientific studies in this regard. However, almost none of them are completely consistent.

An interesting investigation

Psychiatrist David Avery from the UK had a rather special patient. He had bipolar disorder and was also quite methodical and enjoyed doing scientific research. This is why he kept a thorough record of his extreme mood swings. As Harvey studied the patient’s notes, he noticed that the sleep fluctuations coincided with the fluctuations in the lunar water.

The conclusion seemed somewhat absurd to the psychiatrist and he dropped the topic. However, another well-known psychiatrist, Thomas Wehr, published an article in which he pointed out that 17 patients with bipolar disorder had a very striking regularity in mood swings. Not only that, but their changes coincided with the cycles of the lunar water. This study was based on observations he made over several years.

Then the two psychiatrists met and joined forces. After a while, they both presented their conclusions in different forums and are actually right, from an empirical point of view. It is definitely a coincidence, but other researchers claim that there is another factor that affects this phenomenon, and that they just have not discovered it.

Most people in the scientific community refuse to take the relationship between the moon and behavior seriously, because there are no physical foundations that can confirm it. In addition, Wehr and Avery could not be recreated. There will definitely be new studies that will shine some light where there are still shadows.