SEATTLE, was. – Does it feel like strange things always happen when there is a full moon? You may be right, but the reason is not in the stars, it could be in your bedroom. According to a new study, the lunar cycles can have a major impact on people’s sleep patterns.
Researchers from the United States and Argentina say people go to bed later and sleep less at night in front of a full moon. People have been blaming the moon for centuries for accidents, natural disasters and even their state of mind. At least when it comes to humans, the study suggests that being cranky during a full moon has more to do with the rest someone gets.
Study authors from the University of Washington found that sleep cycles in humans oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle. In the days before the full moon, people usually go to bed later at night and then sleep less hours.
Professor of Biology Horacio de la Iglesia observed the changes in both sleeping times and the duration of sleep in urban and rural areas; from indigenous communities in northern Argentina to university students living in Seattle. The largest U.S. city in the Northwest Pacific Ocean has more than 700,000 inhabitants.
No matter where you live, the moon touches you
Study authors have discovered that lunar phases cause oscillations regardless of the individual’s access to electricity. However, the variations are less pronounced in individuals living in an urban environment such as a busy city. The research team adds that the increase in patterns may indicate that human circadian rhythms are somehow synchronized with the phases of the lunar cycle.
“We see a clear lunar modulation of sleep, with sleep decreasing and later starting to sleep in the days before a full moon,” says prof. De la Iglesia in a university statement. “And while the effect is more powerful in communities without access to electricity, the effect is present in communities with electricity, including undergraduate students at the University of Washington.”
Using wrist monitors, the team examined the sleep patterns of 98 people in three indigenous Toba-Qom communities in the Argentine province of Formosa.
One of the communities did not have electricity, while another had only limited access to electricity – like a single lamp in the house. Unlike those rural areas, the third community was in an urban environment with full access to electricity.
Previous studies by prof. De la Iglesia and other groups have shown that access to electricity can affect sleep. These results reappear in this study, as Toba-Qom later sleeps in the urban community and sleeps less than rural participants.
However, residents in all three communities also showed the same sleep changes when the moon completed its monthly cycle. Depending on the location, the total amount of sleep during the lunar cycle varied between 46 and 58 minutes. In addition, the sleep time changed by about half an hour.
Feel the full moon a week early
Researchers say the impact of a full moon begins to take hold almost a week in advance. In all three communities, people later went to bed and had the shortest amount of sleep three to five days before a full moon.
When they discovered this pattern in Toba-Qom participants, study authors analyzed the sleep monitor data of 464 students in the Seattle area. However, these students were part of a separate study, but their results showed the same oscillations.
Researchers have confirmed that the evenings leading up to a full moon provide more natural light after dusk than the rest of the month. The washing moon becomes brighter as it peaks every month; usually rises in the late afternoon or early evening. This places it high in the air during the evening after sunset.
After a full moon, the waning moons also emit considerable light, but in the middle of the night. This is because the moon rises so late in the evening during the points of the lunar cycle.
“We assume that the patterns we observed are an innate adaptation that enabled our ancestors to take advantage of this natural source of evening light that occurred at a specific time during the lunar cycle,” says lead author Leandro Casiraghi of the University of Washington.
Moonlight’s connection to your own lights
Prof. de la Iglesia is of the opinion that the lunar effects may also explain why access to electricity causes such pronounced changes in the human sleep pattern.
“In general, artificial light disrupts our innate circadian clocks in specific ways: it makes us go to bed later in the evening; it makes us sleep less, ”explains the professor. ‘But in general we do not use artificial light to’ progress’ in the morning, at least not willingly. These are the same patterns we observed here with the phases of the moon. ”
“At certain times of the month, the moon is a significant source of light in the evenings, and it would have been clear to our ancestors thousands of years ago,” Casiraghi adds.
‘In general, there is a lot of suspicion about the idea that the phases of the moon can influence behavior such as sleep – although in urban environments with large amounts of light pollution you do not know what the lunar phase is unless you go outside or look through the window. Future research should focus on how: does it work through our innate circadian clock? Or other signals that affect the timing of sleep? There is a lot to understand about this effect. ”
The findings appear in the journal Scientific progress.
SWNS author Stephen Beech contributed to this report.