Epilepsy Full Moon

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Correlation between the full moon and epileptic seizures

The ‘myth’ of the full moon prompting the occurrence of epileptic seizures has perhaps stemmed from the need of having a stricter understanding of this rather inconclusive medical condition (Tylor, 1889). Generally, ‘myths’ remain in existence until a concrete answer is found by science, however, when such a myth becomes regarded as science by professionals and the public alike (Raison, Klein & Steckler, 1999)(Myers, 1995), etiological research is inevitably ignited. For instance, a recent survey involving 50 randomly selected emergency specialists showed that 92% nurses and 60% physicians believe that the lunar cycle influences human behaviour, including epilepsy (Danzl, 1987). While …show more content…
Thus, all the seizures couldn’t be strictly classified epileptic.

Moreover, it should be noted that the point being made includes the assumption that seizures are most likely to be more frequent during the full moon. In actuality, studies have shown that only 24.2% of seizures are nocturnal (Langdon-Down & Russell Brain, 1929). There is no correlation detected between the full moon and epilepsy. This investigation yielded figures very close to the 22% found by Gowers in his landmark experiment, thus crediting the reproducibility of this result.

Living in the 21st century, where artificial lighting is a reality of life, the association between epilepsy and full moon is problematic. Man-made technologies have succeeded very well in overshadowing the lunar and solar light sources (Wehr et al., 1995). This is another reason why the huge percentage of people believing in the scientific relevance of the ‘myth’ is …show more content…
Two standard investigations reinforce Garzino’s beliefs. Around 70% of sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy (SUDEP) over an 8-year period at a specialised hospital unit were found to occur during the full moon (Terra-Bustamante et al., 2009). Likewise, Polychronopoulos et Al. found a “clustering” of seizure occurrences during the full moon period when reviewing the neurological records of an emergency hospital (Polychronopoulos et al., 2006). Nonetheless, the bottom line once again remains that these data points can be exemplifications of type I error. Statistical arguments can indeed be
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