The lunar cycle influences human sleep even when one doesn't see the moon

Jul 26, 2013 20:26 GMT  ·  By

It appears that there is a little werewolf inside all of us. Scientists have discovered that, whenever there is a full moon, people have trouble sleeping.

Oddly enough, this happens even if one cannot see the full moon or isn't aware of its phase.

“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,” researcher Christian Cajochen of the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel explains, as cited by Science Daily.

In a paper published in the journal Current Biology this July 25, the researchers argue that the fact that people sleep poorly around the full moon proves that, as civilized as human society has come to be, our bodies still respond to the rhythms of the moon.

Specialists say that several animal species have been documented to behave differently around a full moon.

They believe that this used to also be true for cavemen, from whom modern humans have inherited an inability to sleep soundly during certain lunar phases.

To test their theory that full moon disrupts sleep, scientists asked 33 volunteers to sleep in a laboratory for a few days.

While these people were sleeping, the researchers kept a close eye on their brain activity. They also monitored their eye movements and hormone secretions.

It was discovered that, before, during and after a full moon, brain activity linked to deep sleep dropped by nearly 30%.

What's more, the volunteers needed more time to fall asleep, and slept less than they normally would have.

This happened because their bodies started secreting less melatonin, i.e. a hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles.

“This is the first reliable evidence that a lunar rhythm can modulate sleep structure in humans when measured under the highly controlled conditions of a circadian laboratory study protocol without time cues,” the researchers reportedly write in their paper.

The scientists who worked on this project now wish to carry out further investigations, and see whether cognitive performances and mood are also influenced by the lunar cycle.