Having Bad Sleep at Night? Blame it on the Moon

At first glance it appeared more like Astrology than real science. The belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena such as moon cycle and events in the human world may appear absurd to some but a recent study is suggesting otherwise.

Many people complain about poor sleep around the full moon, and now a report by chronobiologist and sleep researcher Christian Cajochen at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel in Switzerland offers some of the first convincing scientific evidence to suggest that this really is true.

Cajochen and his colleagues had earlier completed a lab study on sleep years before. They therefore reviewed the results for possible evidence of effects the moon had on people. The scientists found that the lunar cycle seems to influence human sleep, even when one does not see the moon and is not aware of the actual moon phase.

Data from the research show that around the full moon, brain activity related to deep sleep dropped by 30 percent. People also took five minutes longer to fall asleep, and they slept for twenty minutes less time overall. The study participants felt as though their sleep was poorer when the moon was full, and they showed diminished levels of melatonin, a hormone known to regulate sleep and wake cycles.

The moon's hold over us is however masked by the influence of electrical lighting and other aspects of modern life.

The researchers say it would be interesting to look more deeply into the anatomical location of the circalunar clock and its molecular and neuronal underpinnings. And, they say, it could turn out that the moon has power over other aspects of our behavior as well, such as our cognitive performance and our moods.