Imagination or fact? Many people complain about poor sleep around the nights of the full moon. A research group from Switzerland now claims: Yes, the poorer sleeping behaviour is also linked to the full moon. In a study, the sleep researchers have scientifically proven a direct connection between moon phases and sleep behaviour.
Until now, it was mainly recognised and proven that the moon has a direct influence on the earth and people in many ways. The tides with ebb and flow as a result of gravity between the earth and the moon are the best example of this. However, the fact that the full moon phase also influences human sleep has always been suspected, but has not yet been clearly scientifically proven.
This is where the Swiss sleep researchers came in with their study. The quality of sleep was tested on study participants in a sleep laboratory without windows. The result: when the moon was full, they slept worse, more restlessly and for a shorter time, even though there was no bright moonlight or similar to indicate the full moon.
Why we can’t sleep during a full moon.
The researchers used a brain wave measurement to document behaviour in the various sleep phases and also recorded the levels of the sleep hormone melatonin. On average, the participants fell asleep five minutes later and their sleep time was 20 minutes shorter overall. The poorer sleep can be attributed to a lower melatonin level at full moon. In addition, the brain wave measurement showed that the activity of the brain areas shortened the phases of deep sleep by 30 % during a full moon.
The test subjects confirmed these study results. They stated that they always slept particularly badly when the moon was full. The researchers concluded that even if you cannot see the moon and do not know what phase it is in, the lunar cycle has an influence on people’s sleep. The result is all the more astonishing as the study participants did not know what the subject and aim of the sleep studies were.
When is the full moon?
To help you prepare for the next full moon nights, we have listed the dates until the end of the year here:
- Thursday, 25 January 2024
- Saturday, 24 February 2024
- Monday, 25 March 2024
- Wednesday, 24 April 2024
- Thursday, 23 May 2024
- Saturday, 22 June 2024
- Sunday, 21 July 2024
- Monday, 19 August 2024
- Wednesday, 18 September 2024
- Thursday, 17 October 2024
- Friday, 15 November 2024
- Sunday, 15 December 2024
