For once, it may not be those caffeinated drinks or hours of screen time that have kept you awake. Only a decade later did the investigators realize that they may be able to re-crunch the data to learn about the moon. Longitudinal study on perfectionism and sleep disturbance. The obvious suggestion is that this finding relates to moonlight disrupting sleep, but the study took place in a sleep laboratory where the light and other conditions were tightly controlled. The researchers used data collected on sleep over an extended period, and analysed whether people’s sleep patterns changed along with the cycle of the moon. They looked at two nights of in depth sleep data collected in a sleep laboratory from 33 healthy volunteers in a previous study and what phase of the moon these nights fell into. These results suggest that as well as our body clocks having a natural response to the time of day, when it comes to sleep, it may also have a response to the cycle of the moon. We kiss by the moon, go to war by the moon, we spent $25 billion—in 1960s money, no less—to go to the moon. Now, a report in the journal Current Biology suggests that the believers have been right all along. This small study has suggested that human sleep patterns may vary with the moon’s cycle, with people taking longer to get to sleep, and sleeping for less time and less soundly around the full moon. Whether this seemingly minimal difference is clinically meaningful is questionable. They also monitored levels of the hormone melatonin, which is related to our body clocks, and the hormone cortisol, which is related to stress levels. The researchers used data collected as part of previous short term sleep monitoring studies and compared sleep patterns from different participants monitored during different phases of the moon. Thus should all great science be done, since as it turned out, the second look revealed intriguing patterns. In terms of scientific reliability, all of this is both good and not so good. The subjects slept in a completely darkened lab with no sight of the moon, and none of them—at least from what was known—appeared to have given any thought at all to lunar cycles. Over our long history we have been charmed by it, spooked by it, seduced by it. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology. "It's an academically interesting point but it is not particularly helpful as you can't stop it from happening," he said. What happens to your body in extreme heat? Their results showed that during a full Moon their 33 volunteers (who were unaware of the purpose of the study and unable to see the Moon from their beds): But, intriguingly, the researchers suggested it was not down to the extra light from the Moon, as they were shut in a darkened room. They classified the days according to how many days away from the full moon they were, and looked at whether this was related to the sleep patterns seen. Cajochen C, Altanay-Ekici S, Münch M, et al. The volunteers also took five minutes longer to fall asleep and slept for 20 minutes less when there was a full Moon. The most likely explanation, according to the research released in 2013 in Current Biology, was that somehow they were naturally attuned to the moon's cycles. The data came from 17 healthy younger volunteers aged from 21 to 31 years old, and 16 healthy older volunteers aged 57 to 74 years old. Some people may be exquisitely sensitive to the Moon… All of it was intended to learn more about human sleep patterns in a general way and, more specifically, how they are affected by age and gender. This removes the chance that this knowledge could influence the results. It has also been blamed for people getting bitten by animals, higher suicide rates and sleepwalking. He also says if people are reporting poorer sleep after a full Moon it could be an example of confirmation bias - where people are more likely to notice and remember information which fits with their beliefs. This study—while capturing most of the nights in the month—did so in a less rigorous way. People have long reported that it is harder to get to sleep and remain asleep when the moon is full, and even after a seemingly good night’s rest, there can be a faint sluggishness—a sort of full-moon hangover—that is not present on other days. “Full Moon 'disturbs a good night's sleep'” reports BBC News. Dark labs eliminate the variable of light, so that can’t be it. Of course, some results in trials just happen by chance, but results like this do start people thinking of what might be causing an effect if it is true. Everyone is writing about super Moons and blue Moons these days," he said. A study can’t get more effectively double-blind than if no one is even thinking about the thing you wind up testing for, which makes the findings uniquely objective. Ideally, to confirm their findings, researchers need follow up a larger group of individuals of varying ages over a longer period to rule out a chance finding. Over the years, the full Moon has been blamed for everything from spikes in crime, to causing madness, to baby booms. (2010). EU leaders are meeting as member Greece is locked in a row with Turkey over energy and sea borders. They found that on nights around the full moon, volunteers: So, why might a full moon have this effect on sleep? Ancient myths are full of the Moon's ability to make us a little mad - or even turn us into werewolves. Melatonin levels also dipped. (MORE: National Parks on the Moon? The data had been collected years earlier as part of earlier sleep studies. But scientists have found little evidence for these - and indeed many other claims of its effects. It’s an Excellent Idea, Supermoon 2013: The Year’s Biggest, Brightest Moon, As Crop Prices Rise, Farmland Expands—and the Environment Suffers, In Town vs. Country, It Turns Out That Cities Are the Safest Places to Live, The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production. That is, we tend to sleep less deeply during a fall moon as a survival technique. Scientists from Basel University in Switzerland found evidence of a "lunar influence" when they carried out a study on volunteers sleeping in laboratory conditions. Despite this, the individuals only spent two nights in the sleep laboratory, and the patterns of moonlight they experienced in the weeks and months running up to the sleep laboratory could still be having an effect on their body’s sleep rhythms. The Velux Foundation is a non-profit foundation that funds research into daylight and other areas. It even gave us the basis of the word "lunacy", luna being the Latin for Moon. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry: Vol. However, they report that the evidence of an effect on human biology is largely based on folklore. Whether these differences have an effect on daytime functioning was not assessed. "Full Moons are mentioned in people's diaries. This meant volunteers and people collecting the data did not know that the effect of the moon would be investigated with the data being collected. Conditions could be kept the same in the laboratory during the study (same level of light, temperature, bed position, no indicators of time in the rooms, and regular small snacks and water), and sleep closely monitored. The obvious suggestion is that this finding relates to moonlight disrupting sleep, but the study took place in a sleep laboratory where the light and other conditions were tightly controlled. Volunteers in the study spent two separate nights at a sleep lab under close observation. Less well-known is the lunar link to the electrochemistry of the brain in epileptic patients, which changes in the few days surrounding a new moon, making seizures more likely. “The a posteriori analysis is a strength and a weakness,” concedes lead author Christian Cajochen, head of the University of Basel’s Centre for Chronobiology, in an e-mail to TIME. People have long reported that it is harder to get to sleep and remain asleep when the moon is full, and even after a seemingly good night’s rest, there can be a faint sluggishness—a sort of full-moon hangover—that is not present on other days. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence claiming there are more accidents, violent incidents and psychiatric admissions when the Moon is full. In addition, EEG activity related to deep sleep fell 30%, melatonin levels were lower and the subjects reported feeling less refreshed the next day than on other days. All rights reserved. UK sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley said if the full Moon's effects on sleep were because of brightness, then the usual things such as eye masks would help. And before you ask, no, it’s not gravity either.