According to a new study, a full moon could cause people to
lose an average of twenty minutes of sleep compared to a new one. This study
ran sleeping trials on 33 healthy volunteers, whose ages fell between 20 and
74. They limited their view of the moon by monitoring the patients inside of a
laboratory with no windows. The trials lasted three and a half days for each
participant. The researchers also controlled humidity and temperature inside
the lab. At the time of the study, the participants and the researchers were
unaware of the link to the moon. Along with the twenty minute loss of sleep
during a full moon, researchers also found it takes around five minutes longer
for a person to fall asleep and deep sleep was decreased by around thirty percent
during a full moon. The participants sleeping in the lab also showed lower
levels of melatonin, the hormone that helps the body determine day and night.
However,
there are some limitations to this study. For example, the sample size was
extremely small and individuals environments before entering the study were not
controlled. In order to find more proof
in this study, each participant would need to spend a full lunar cycle to get
the most accurate results possible which would become extremely expensive.This study represents another instance of the importance of data in public health. While this study may not have the medical significance of other studies such as Framingham, interpreting data on the sleep patterns could have their own health effect. This article also briefly touches on the issues of funding such study. In order to do a complete study, it would cost too much money. During a time in which government cannot work together to decide on funding, deciding which studies need federal assistance could become a major issue in the near future.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/26/full-moon-may-disrupt-sleep-study-says/
I found it interesting that the data came from an experiment done 10 years ago and Cajochen and colleagues didn't analyze the results with the lunar patterns until several years after they did the study. And they waited to publish until now. Also I don't think the authors of the study can really say that "We have evidence that the distance to the nearest full-moon phase SIGNIFICANTLY influences human sleep and evening melatonin levels when measured under strictly controlled laboratory conditions, where factors such as light and personal moon perception can be excluded,". They need much more evidence to say that this significantly influences human sleep. Seems like more studies need to be done about this, to be able to actually conclude anything.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting article, but the limited number of participants and the fact that the data was collected 10 years ago gives me some hesitation. I hope that more sleep research is done on this topic, because it would be really helpful to know how different phases of the lunar cycle impact the amount of sleep we get. Also, does the lunar cycle affect our circadian rhythm at all? I would be curious to find that out as well.
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ReplyDeleteI agree the credibility of the article is a little questionable...However, even though it is a very random topic, I've always wondered about this actually!! I love to sleep by windows because I like the moonlight, but I have actually had friends who spend the night at my house/sleepovers/etc say they never get good sleep when they visit because of the moonlight. Also, I've read how multiple bodily functions are affected differently in different areas of the globe because of the gravitational pulls. The moon affects the tides and the crops so why shouldn't it affect human behavior as well? I would be interested also to know the participants sleep environments growing up, because it could just be a mere question of exposure...if as a child, they slept with nightlights vs sleeping in a room without windows or lights...this would pre-dispose them to be more comfortable in the sleep variable. As far as public health implications, this reminds me of light pollution and how people who live near big cities with heavy light pollution also tend to sleep less well.
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