Full Moon can affect the duration and quality of sleep
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Specialists from Switzerland have finally been able to prove the relationship between the lunar cycle and the duration of a night's sleep. For a long time, many people complained of poor health and too sensitive sleep during the full moon. Recent studies of scientists from the University of Basel showed that the relationship between the full moon and the quality of sleep actually exists.
For several months, Swiss scientists have been studying the possible effects of the lunar cycle on the well-being and behavior of an adult. The head of the research group told the press that at a time when the moon is in the full moon phase, the average duration of a person's sleep is reduced by 25-30 percent. This fact scientists explain the numerous complaints of bad sleep during the full moon.
The study conducted at the University of Basel (Switzerland) consisted in that for four months specialists, with the help of thirty volunteers, were engaged in studying the influence of the lunar cycle on the behavior of the human body. Over the course of several months, the experiment participants were forced to fall asleep in the laboratory so that scientists could fix not only the duration of sleep, but also the behavior during sleep. Volunteers of different sex and age participated in the experiment. Also, during a night's sleep, specialists observed brain activity, eyeball movements and changes in hormone levels of participants.
The results of the experiments confirmed the guesses of the leaders of the research group: the phases of the moon in fact can have a significant impact on the quality and duration of night sleep. During the full moon and even a few days before it, the average length of sleep for all participants fell by 20-30 percent. Moreover, almost every volunteer complained of restless sleep and difficulties during sleep. The results of the analyzes showed that the level of melatonin in the body during the full moon is markedly reduced.
Melatonin is a hormone, the change in its concentration in the body affects the diurnal rhythms. Can be taken in tablets for the purpose of adjusting the "internal alarm", for example, during long trips and changing time zones. Previously, European medical periodicals published information that the quality of sleep during the full moon may depend on the degree of brightness of the moonlight. A recent experiment in Basel disproved this theory, since during the study of the influence of the lunar cycle on human sleep, the experiments were conducted in rooms that were closed from sunlight and moonlight.
The head of the study reported that during the full moon all participants in the experiment slept 15 minutes less than on any other day. The main reason for the reduction of night sleep is the moment that during the full moon phase each person spends more time falling asleep. Also, all participants reported that during the full moon they woke up in the middle of the night.
In the astronomical concept, a full moon lasts only a few minutes and is such a phase of the moon, during which the difference in the ecliptic longitude of both the Moon and the Sun is 180 degrees. Scientists from Basel, mentioning the full moon in their study, mean several days, during which the moon is in the state closest to the full moon.
[