Does the full moon affect our sleep?

A lot of things affect a person’s sleep: from noise outside the window to stress at work or a sandwich eaten at night. But there is another factor that has always raised a lot of questions and rumors. Does the full moon affect us when we sleep? And if it does, then how? It seems that scientists managed to find the answer.

Luna, calm me down!

First, we’ll immediately decide that we are not talking about sleepwalking, but about healthy people who are forced to sleep every 29 days with the moon, brightly lit by sunlight. During the full moon, the night sky becomes much brighter, and the satellite also affects the ocean tides.

Scientists have long tried to determine what effect the full moon has on human sleep, but the results have varied. For example, in one study conducted with 675 Danish children between the ages of 8 and 11 years, it was found that children slept a little longer during the full moon period. And another study, in which 319 adults took part, on the contrary, showed that the full moon reduces the effectiveness of sleep.

The 2013 study, in which the sleep of 33 people was studied over three years, can be considered the most accurate. The results of the study suggest that during the full moon, people fell asleep longer, and the effectiveness and duration of sleep decreased.

But if the moon really affects sleep like that, by what mechanisms does it do it?

Curtains will not help

Everything seems to be logical and understandable. However, a 2013 study was conducted in a darkened laboratory, so moonlight hardly prevented subjects from traveling to the realm of Morpheus. Therefore, scientists suggest that the physiological response of a person to the full moon can be congenital and does not depend on external factors.

Researchers have even come to the conclusion that lunar cycles can become a new scale for measuring human biorhythms, which are also not yet fully understood. One thing is certain: no matter how thick the curtains hang in your bedroom on the full moon, your internal clock will do the trick.