There are a lot of myths associated with the full moon: one of them, for example, says that the full moon causes insomnia in people.
Scientists have tried to understand the influence of lunar phases on sleep.
Does the Moon Affect Sleep?
To answer this question, a study was conducted, according to the results of which scientists came to the conclusion that on the full moon and the week before it, people fall asleep later and sleep less than on other days.
Let's assume that a bright Moon can interfere with quality sleep, since the time of falling asleep, the production of melatonin and the quality of rest depend on the level of illumination.
However, judging by the results of another experiment, it is not only about the Moon.
This time, scientists analyzed sleep structure, brain activity, and melatonin and cortisol levels in people who, according to the conditions of the experiment, were supposed to fall asleep in a dark laboratory.
Even in a room where there was no light at all, during a full moon, people needed 5 minutes more to fall asleep, and their sleep lasted 20 minutes less.
That's not all that the researchers were able to establish: the time spent in deep sleep by the "test subjects" decreased by 30%, and the level of melatonin became lower.
The subjects themselves also noticed that their sleep had worsened.
But, to be honest, there are studies with diametrically opposite results.
Thus, Swedish scientists analyzed information on more than 2,000 people and were unable to find significant differences in the quality and duration of sleep in different phases of the moon.
Researchers from Great Britain came to approximately the same conclusion.
However, after testing women and men separately, it turned out that the REM phase of sleep, during which a person dreams, was shorter in women during the full moon, while it was longer in men.
