By Andy | April 21, 2008 - 5:20 am - Posted in Insomnia, Sleep Habits
Does the full moon affect our sleep? How about the cycles of the moon? Many disorders seem to follow the phases of the moon. When the moon is full, some people may suffer from insomnia, nightmares, strange dreams, and some people even sleepwalk. There is one more interesting fact that some people sleep better when the moon is full, even if its shine falls into their faces.
… But: Austrian scientists have shown that sleep patterns are not affected by the phases of
the moon.
- Numerous studies have tried to find lunar effects. Reuters reports that researchers with the Austrian Society for Sleep Medicine & Sleep Research examined the sleep patterns of 391 people in several European countries. About half the subjects had sleeping disorders, but no one knew the researchers were interested in the effect of the moon. “When I deal with patients with sleep problems, so many say that the full moon stopped them (from) sleeping, that even I was expecting some small difference to show up in the study,” Gerhardt Kloesch, the Vienna University psychologist who led the current research, told Reuters.
- In fact, just 8 percent of those surveyed had problems sleeping while there was a full moon, compared to 25 percent who said they had a particularly good night’s sleep on the night of a full moon.
- Full moon or not, it’s important to get the right amount of sleep each night. If you sleep too little-or
even too much–you’re at a higher risk for a heart attack. In a separate research study, doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have determined that women who have a sleep imbalance–that is, sleep five or less hours a night or nine or more–run a greater risk of getting heart disease than those who sleep eight hours a night. Why? They aren’t sure, especially for those who sleep too much. Reuters reports that while the study involved 121,700 female nurses that began in 1976, the results are likely to apply to men as well.
