Title: The mood-altering power of the Moon - BBC Future
Headings: 
The mood-altering power of the Moon
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One recent study suggested that outdoor criminal activity may be higher when there is more moonlight
In theory, the light of a full Moon might disrupt people’s sleep, which could influence their mood
When people were exposed to magnetic field changes – equivalent to those we experience as we move around our local environment – they experienced decreases in brain alpha wave activity
Another possibility is that patients are responding to the Moon’s gravitational pull in the same way the oceans do: through tidal forces
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Content: There are some theories that bright moonlight at the peak of the lunar cycle might disrupt people's sleep and lead to mood changes (Credit: Alamy)
“In the modern world, there’s so much light pollution and we spend so much time indoors exposed to artificial light, that the signal of the changing levels of moonlight has been obscured,” he explains. Rather, he suspects that some other aspect of lunar influence is perturbing his patients’ sleep, with knock-on consequences for their mood – with the most likely candidate being the Moon’s gravitational pull. One idea is that this triggers subtle fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field, to which some people might be sensitive. “The oceans are electrically conducting because they’re made of salty water, and as they flow around with the tides that has a magnetic field associated with it,” says Robert Wickes, a space weather expert at University College London. Yet, the effect is tiny and whether the Moon’s effect on the Earth’s magnetic field is strong enough to induce biological changes is unclear. Certainly, some studies have linked solar activity to increases in heart attacks and strokes, epileptic fits, schizophrenia and suicides. When solar flares or coronal mass ejections hit the Earth’s magnetic field, this induces invisible electric currents strong enough to knock out power grids, and which some have suggested may also affect electrically sensitive cells in the heart and brain. When people were exposed to magnetic field changes – equivalent to those we experience as we move around our local