You won't believe it: with a full moon you sleep worse (and this is why)

Always exhausted dragging that day on caffeine? Nothing is as annoying as being very tired and then still not being able to fall asleep. Or waking up twenty times at night for no reason. If you can't sleep well again, it might have everything to do with... the moon.

Because with a full moon, scientists suggest you sleep worse. Restless, falling asleep less easily, intense dreaming, lying awake, often waking up at night... You already need that cup of coffee just thinking about it, right?

Not tired
Research has been conducted for years on the position of the moon and the influence it has on us. And more and more is being discovered. For example, Swedish scientists published a study showing that the moon affects our sleep rhythm. They had 47 participants spend a few nights in a room without windows. This prevented outside light from influencing their sleep. By analyzing those nights, scientists discovered that we sleep on average twenty minutes shorter during a full moon. That was the only thing that differed during those nights: the position of the moon. The rest of the room, the person and the bed remained the same. Around the full moon, the participants also took an average of five minutes longer to fall asleep. They also produced less melatonin, the hormone that makes you tired in the evening.

Dreaming
The strange thing about the research is mainly: people's REM sleep actually lasts a bit longer when it's a full moon. You get as much as thirty minutes more REM sleep then. And it is precisely in that sleep that you dream a lot and often intensely; as a result, it can happen that you wake up startled with a very intense story that is still exactly in your head.

Why this is the case? According to some, there is a different energy in the air around the full moon. Two days before and two days after the peak is an active phase in which emotions are brought to the surface and you are full of energy. Therefore, you may find it harder to fall into a deep sleep and to fall asleep.

Or maybe not?
However, you shouldn't take it too seriously either, because it could very well be that you notice nothing and that the moon is just shining full in the meantime. Because that's often how it works in science: a study is published when something is discovered, but there are also plenty of studies in which nothing is found, which you then also hear nothing about. “For every published study showing a positive correlation, there were nineteen unpublished studies showing a negative correlation between poor sleep and the full moon,” says neuroscientist Martin Dresler. Well, it might just be what you want to believe.

Source: Bedrock