Sleep patterns affected by Moon cycle

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This article describes a study where it was found sleep patterns in humans are affected by the moons cycle.

Is the moon affecting your sleep?

For several years now I have noted my sleep is terrible during a full moon. I have put this down to having inadequately thick curtains in my bedroom and so light from a full moon affects me. I am quite sensitive to light.

But this study is interesting because the link with the moon was not spotted until the research had been done for a few years. I don't think it is supernatural but I am willing to believe the moon cycle affects us just as it affects some other animals. Also if the moons gravity affects the tides then why should it not affect our bodies (which are made up of mostly water).

What do you see in this study? Is it jumping to conclusions or are they on to something?

Since humans have been evolving on this earth for millions of years now, it would be no surprise that our biology is intimately connected with many recurring cycles--not just the moon.

Having said this, I have noticed that if I get too much light in the evening before I sleep that I frequently have problems falling asleep. So, I have started limiting the amount of light I am exposed to in the evenings, making the house progressively darker as it gets later, and now I have few problems sleeping.

It works the other way. Since I am always up well before dawn, throwing on a bright light helps me wake up a lot quicker.

Last edited by Thelibrarian on 23 Oct 2013, 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The duration and intensity of light seem to be the dominant influences.

I have to have almost total darkness before I can fall asleep. Even the little 5-Watt night-light in the hallway can keep me awake if the bedroom door is left open.

It makes a certain degree of sense to me that a gravitational pull could effect insomnia. Just my personal opinion, but I think this also directly relates to the fact that we should be reminding people how connected we are to space...

Your body experiences a greater gravitational pull from the Earth than from the Moon by many orders of magnitude. Even the table in front of you exerts a greater gravitational attraction than the Moon. Gravity is actually the weakest of all the physical forces, being only 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent as strong as the electromagnetic force (EMF) over any given unit distance, even though both gravity and the EMF have infinite range.

How can they know the moon is causing the sleep issues? Especially if they were both on the same cycle.
May as well say YOUR sleep cycle is causing the changing the moon phases.

The light from the moon is nowhere near enough to affect one's circadian rhythm.
And what about overcast nights, or people under more foliage, or indoors.
Gravitation is supremely unlikely to do it, or you'd be able to modify your sleep patterns with a large lead pillow.

The Moon keeps me from sleeping because once that wolf thing happens, I'm up for the rest of the night, slaughtering villagers and gypsies.

I don't think they know the moon is causing it. They are saying they found a correspondence with the moons cycle and the data they collected from the volunteers.

I think the light from a full moon is very bright. Especially on winter nights when the full moon is high. But it may not be down to the brightness alone, it could have more to do with the spectrum of light being reflected back onto the Earth. If light from the blue end of the spectrum is hitting the Earth from a full moon then that can cause issues with our melatonin levels. There may also be UV light from a full moon.

Overcast nights are much better for me when it is a full moon.

Actually, I can think of an easy way to check the light hypothesis. I live now in a very rural area, many miles removed even from any big towns. So, on moonless nights when it is clear, it is very dark; the milky way is brilliant, and when it is dark out here, it is really dark. Having lived in big cities in the past, only the brightest stars are ever visible there due to serious light pollution--light from both ends of the spectrum. So, if light is really the culprit, then those in rural areas should sleep better than urbanites, and the more rural the area, the better people should sleep.

Urban areas are an issue with light pollution. But not everyone is sensitive to light. How do you sleep on a full moon?

Full moons don't bother me at all; I like the way the night looks out here under a full moon. Dim lights generally don't disturb my sleep patterns; bright lights do. But the hypothesis being tossed around is the reason the full moon affects sleeping patterns is because of the light. So, areas with more light ought to have more sleep problems even if not everybody is affected.

Yes but we're still discussing the sensitivity of individual neurons. The moon's mass acting on the planet's core accounts for both the stability and form of the EMF, which is ultimately why we have an atmosphere. It's pretty arguable that the EMF directly effects consciousness as a result of electrochemical impulse. EMF in terms of a planetary field includes variance that's never been correlated with humans, but flock navigation is one good example.