BY MARK LAFLAMME
Staff Writer

LEWISTON -- Each month, when the moon rises bright and full in the sky, Tami Girardin hunkers down and tries to control the passions it inspires.
The director of social activities D'Youville Pavilion's Alzheimer's unit, Girardin says she's seen residents stirred into frenzy by the mere presence of it.
"We have a lot more falls when the moon is full. People get mad at each other. They cry a lot. All of their emotions seem to peak around that time," she says. "It effects the staff, too. I try to keep everything calm."
Like countless others, Girardin is sure the full moon wreaks havoc with the psyche.  The residents at the Alzheimer's unit may not know what stage the moon is in, but its evident in their behavior when it gets full.
"They don't even know it's coming," she says. "But they feel it and it shows.
Girardin calms things down with a program she calls Lunar Magic, a concept that was lauded last summer in a national magazine.
 "I use relaxation music. We have a video tape of a fireplace that we play on the TV screen," she says. "We serve bread pudding and cocoa. We keep everything quiet around that time."
All this because of that bright orb in the sky that comes around once a month?
The belief that the full moon has a direct effect on human behavior has endured for thousands of years. Some cultures plan religious holidays around it.
Ask perfectly rational people and several will insist that during any full moon, crime rates soar, emergency rooms will be jammed, jails will be full and suicides will increase dramatically.
But studies have all but reduced that long-cherished notion to nothing more than folk wisdom. Statistics show no rises in any such incidents during full moons.
Dr. Dennis Michael Driscoll, a biometeorologist at Texas A&M University, has made a career out of studying the affects of outside forces on human behavior. When it comes to the full moon's influence on crime and deviant behavior, he leaves little room for debate.
"The research that has been done is quite unambiguous," he says. "There's no relationship."
The studies, the statistics and comments like that one are bound to make some people howl with disagreement. The idea that the full moon, beautiful and mysterious, influences our lives has been around for ages.
"That belief is so deeply entrenched that a lot of people carry it around with them. It's very romantic and people hold onto it," said Dr. David Stuchiner, Director of Emergency Services at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. "But every time someone looks at it objectively, they haven't been able to demonstrate any correlation."
Now, Stuchiner's comments may anger some of the people who work for him. There is at least a handful nurses at the CMMC emergency room who still believe they will see more patients any time the moon is full. One study revealed that as much as 80 percent of emergency room nurses in the country agree.
"I don't know where that comes from," Stuchiner says.
Experts say study after study show no howling hordes in emergency rooms on the night of the full moon. A 1994 study also found no full-moon correlation with admissions to psychiatric hospitals and a 1997 study revealed that doctors see no increase of depressed and anxious patience.
Some believers of full moon madness (the word lunatic comes from "luna," the Latin word for moon) hope science will back them up instead of disproving the phenomenon.
The moon's gravitation pull on the earth affects the earth's ocean and therefore is responsible for shaping and forming the planet. Couldn't the same gravitational pull affect the fluids in the human body?
Afraid not, says science. Although a person is composed of much water and other fluids, the small mass is not prone to the moon's pull.
"It effects the motion of the tides but it doesn't effect the body," Stuchiner says.
So if not the moon, then what? What causes those rising crime rates and crowded jails and emergency rooms?
Try something more earthly. Try the day-to-day weather to concoct some mayhem.
"The moon has very little to do with how people act generally," says Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Kelly. "But coupled with the fact that it's a hot summer day....  it could be very significant."
In the 1700's, French political philosopher Charles Louis Montesquieu attempted to relate criminal behavior to the climate and weather. Current experts say he was right on the mark.
"Weather definitely affects what we do and how we behave," Stuchiner said. "Any time the weather changes suddenly and it catches people unaware, we'll see some trauma."
There is science involved, but most of it comes down to common sense.
"More has been written - and justifiably so - about the heat, especially when combined with humidity," says Driscoll. "It kills and increases the likelihood of civil unrest."
When temperatures soar, the body works harder to cool itself. That and the discomfort of sweating without relief can lead to short tempers.
Police say the heat is even more a factor when it coincides with the mailing of welfare and unemployment checks at the beginning of each month.
"When it gets hot and the checks have come out, look out," said veteran Auburn police Officer and emergency medical technician Tom Slivinski. "People start drinking and they get nasty. Those that have a mean streak will just be pushed to the edge quicker."
When it comes to weather influencing crime and general agitation, some say a stiff breeze or downright gales should not be overlooked as factors.
"The wind seems to make people want to fight," said Lewiston police Lt. Pete McGray. "It cranks up their aggression. When it's windy and dry, it's the worst."
That's not just a nugget of lore at all -- there is science to explain McGray's assertion that dry winds rile people up.
"Relatively high winds can act as an irritant, especially if accompanied by blowing dust or debris," Driscoll said. "When accompanied by low humidity, nasal passages become desiccated and eyes smart from lack of moisture."
Rain makes people cranky as they're forced to stay inside. Criminals like the veil that fog provides them. Snow can cause claustrophobia or cabin fever.
The full moon people are not likely to be swayed. The great, white satellite is more than 4.9 million years old and 238,857 miles away. It has more than twice the effect on our tides than the sun. And even those high-brow studies and statistics can't rule of for certain that it has no effect on us all - science in the natural world doesn't consider the supernatural.
"No amount of research, however definitive and exhaustive, will ever establish that...  phases of the moon are unrelated to human behavior," Driscoll says. "It's this general premise that permits a horde of outlandish claims, from astrology to E.S.P to human combustion."

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