Key Takeaways
- Are parasites more active during the full moon? Alternative-health practitioners say yes, attributing it to a full-moon rise in host serotonin that stimulates parasite muscle activity and reproduction. No peer-reviewed research has confirmed this link.
- Circalunar rhythm — the influence of lunar position on biological cycles — is documented in marine organisms and proposed to extend to humans and their intestinal parasites.
- Because most treatments kill adult worms but not eggs, practitioners following this approach may treat around the full moon. Subsequent treatments across multiple moon cycles may make sense.
Table of Contents
The moon is 238,900 miles from Earth and just 1.3% of its weight – what impact could something so tiny and distant from us have on parasitic activity? If you’ve ever witnessed the power of tides in our oceans, you’d see that the moon has amazing power that affects us all.
Tides are one of the effects seen on Earth because of the pull of the moon’s gravity on the water in our oceans. The moon literally pulls water from one side of an ocean to another, simply because of its weight acting on Earth. The Sun contributes to higher or lower tides than normally seen by playing tug of war with us, pulling alongside the moon during a new moon and alongside Earth during the full moon.
Because all living things on Earth are water-based creatures (everything from tiny organisms to humans), we are more affected by these gravitational events than you’d think. Researchers have noted that we make less melatonin (the hormone that assists in sleep) and more of the neurotransmitter and hormone serotonin (a regulatory hormone) during a full moon.
What is Circalunar Rhythm?
The circalunar rhythm is the rhythm in living things under the influence of the position of the moon. Marine organisms have been shown to respond to lunar behavior in various ways, and anything made of water (including humans) can be affected to some degree by this gravitational tug of war.
As noted, we produce different hormone and neurotransmitter levels during the various moon phases. Serotonin, in particular, affects our mood, appetite, and sleeping behaviors. Changes in melatonin affect how well we sleep.
Why Parasites Follow the Lunar Cycle
Humans have evolved alongside the parasites living within us since the dawn of humankind. Parasites have adapted their own biochemistry to match our internal chemistry in order to survive evolutionary pressure. Parasitic muscle activity, for example, depends on levels of serotonin in their hosts.
The lunar clock (circalunar rhythm) causes parasites to become physically more active inside our bodies and reproduce more often. It’s believed that they are responding to higher serotonin levels in the gut, stimulating muscle activity in the parasites’ bodies. Higher activity is coupled with a greater potential for these parasites to reproduce.
As many as 200,000 eggs per day can be produced by Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworms). Those eggs have the potential to make a lot of active worms inside your body. Each of these eggs is infective and can contribute to the contagion of worms via the fecal-oral route.
Full Moon Symptoms to Watch For
People with parasites are more likely to experience symptoms from their intestinal parasites during the full moon. Higher parasitic activity in your gut can have several effects on you:
- Reduced sleep quality (made worse by lower melatonin levels in your body)
- More itching as your body responds by releasing histamine
- Skin rashes like eczema
- Headaches, migraines, sore joints
- More GI upset or IBS
- Food cravings, particularly for sugar
- Mood swings, anxiety, depression, or brain fog
If you think you have parasites, pay attention to these circalunar patterns and plan on adjusting your treatment for parasites based on the moon’s phases.
Treating Parasites Based on the Moon Cycles
It makes sense to treat parasites based on the moon’s cycles and to remember their own life cycle. Why? Let’s look at a normal worm lifecycle to see.
Worms, in particular, lay eggs that take time to develop into larvae and then mature worms. The CDC indicates it may take 2 to 3 months from the time you ingest a roundworm egg until it becomes an adult worm. These worms can live as long as 2 years inside your body. Adult female worms are capable of laying their own infective eggs throughout adulthood.
Many treatments for parasites only affect adult worms. This means that eggs are unaffected and can go on to make more worms, even after you’ve had just one treatment. Adult worms can also hide and may remain alive after treatment.
Because parasites are more reproductively active during the full moon, they will not be hiding. Many experts recommend treating you for parasites in the days just before, during, and then after this event.
Because many parasite eggs will resist treatment the first time, you will likely need subsequent treatment – over as many as 3 full moons – to ensure that you get rid of your parasite for good.