FP TrendingFeb 02, 2021 11:21:09 IST
A new study has revealed that different phases of the moon affect our sleep pattern and depth. The latest research published in the magazine Advances in science has shown that, a few days before a full moon, people tend to go to bed late and sleep less. It has been believed and considered for years that light, natural or man-made, is something to do with people’s sleep patterns. Before artificial light was created, the moon was the only source of light when the sun was setting.
The researchers found that sleep starts later and is shorter on the nights before the full moon.
The study states that “moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity” and found that sleep starts later and is more short on the nights before the full moon. This is likely due to the moonlight being available in the hours after dusk.
To conduct the research, the team used wrist actimetry to establish the relationship between nighttime sleep and the lunar cycle. For the study, they selected different participants living in different environments, from both rural and urban. The results indicated that moonlight must have inhibited sleep in preindustrial communities and continue to do so in rural settings without the aid of artificial lighting.
As a report by The Keeper noting, the team had deployed slim monitors on 98 people to monitor their sleep pattern and this research was conducted in three communities in Argentina. While one was a rural community with no access to electricity, the other was a rural community with little access to electricity. The third was in an urban setting and had full access to electricity.
Surprisingly, all three communities showed the same pattern of sleep oscillations during the lunar cycle. Sleep time varied from about 20 to 90 minutes, and bed times varied 30 to 80 minutes during the 29.5-day cycles of the natural satellite. Thus human sleep was found to be synchronized with the lunar cycle regardless of their ethnic and socio-cultural history.