Always remember we are under the same sky, looking at the same moon.
~ Maxine Lee
We've been blaming the moon for our moods, accidents and even natural disasters for centuries. Recent research tells us that we have it all wrong! The moon actually impacts our sleep.
Scientists at the University of Washington, the National University of Quilmes in Argentina and Yale University recently revealed that human sleep cycles oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle.
"In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time."
Researchers studied people from Indigenous communities in northern Argentina to college students in Seattle. They saw the oscillations regardless of an individual's access to electricity.
The pattern may indicate that our natural circadian rhythms are somehow synchronized with -- or entrained to -- the phases of the lunar cycle.
In the evenings leading up to the full moon (when participants slept the least and went to bed the latest), there is more natural light available after dusk. The moon is increasingly brighter as it progresses toward a full moon, and generally rises in the late afternoon or early evening, placing it high in the sky during the evening after sunset.
The latter half of the full moon phase also gives off significant light, but in the middle of the night, since the moon rises so late in the evening during this portion of the lunar cycle. Researchers went on to theorize that this is an adaption that allowed our ancestors to take advantage of this natural source of evening light that occurred at a specific time during the lunar cycle.
This may also explain why access to electricity causes pronounced changes in our sleep patterns. Artificial light disrupts our circadian clocks. It makes us go to sleep later and it makes us sleep less.
