25 February 2021, 11:24 pm EST By Study reveals that people sleep less on nights before full moon. ( Tom Fisk from Pexels )
With the upcoming full moon this weekend, which others called Snow Moon, researchers from three universities revealed its connection to sleep deprivation of the people, especially those who stay awake late at night.
If you are one of those night-owls who just cannot fall into sleep, you might be wondering how a distant satellite of our planet may impact your sleeping pattern.
Why Do People Sleep Less At Night Before Snow Moon?
In a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer s Anthony R. Wood, a recent study led to a conclusion that you are sleeping 46 to 58 minutes less than your regular sleeping cycle on nights that lead to the full moon.
A full moon hangs over Seattle’s Lake Union on April 7, 2020. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)
A newly published study adds to the long-debated evidence that humans are hard-wired to sleep less when the moon is full or the lights are on, probably due to the ancestral quirks of circadian rhythm.
The pattern has been documented in a variety of indigenous communities in Argentina and at the University of Washington in Seattle, where bright lights and cloudy weather tend to dull even the full moon’s glare.
“We see a clear lunar modulation of sleep, with sleep decreasing and a later onset of sleep in the days preceding a full moon,” senior study author Horacio de la Iglesia, a UW biology professor, said in a news release. “And although the effect is more robust in communities without access to electricity, the effect is present in communities with electricity, including undergraduates at the University of Washington.”