Effects of different phases of the lunar month on living organisms

ABSTRACT

The illumination and the gravitational pull of the moon on the earth are not same in all the prominent position of the moon during the lunar month, i.e. new moon (NM), first quarter (FQ), full moon (FM) and third quarter (TQ), and the amplitude of ocean tides also varies among those lunar phases. A huge number of investigations have shown the relation of lunar phases with the different activity of living organisms, like the activity pattern of marine and other animals, birds, insects and humans. These alterations of activity pattern may be due to the changes of lunar gravitational force on the earth surface and changes of “biological tide” or the alteration of electromagnetic field of the earth and lunar illumination. The altered autonomic neural activity and cardiovascular activity of higher vertebrates and light/dark cycle in different lunar phases are probably the fundamental causes of the changes of activity of other living organisms.

KEYWORDS:

• Illumination
• gravitational pull
• lunar phases
• biological tide
• autonomic neural activity
• cardiovascular activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.