January 25, 2024: It’s a full moon again. Are people now sleeping worse?Image: pexels
Everyday question
It’s a legend that holds true: Many people are sure that they sleep worse during a full moon. They talk about difficulty falling asleep during this time – sometimes even sleepless nights. But what do we really know about the myth of the moon?
Full moon: sleep disorders caused by light?
As bright as the full moon, the reason for this seems equally obvious: via the pineal gland, light influences the level of the hormone melatonin, which in turn regulates the rhythm between our sleep and waking phases. A much-noticed one Study The University of Basel also claims to have proven this connection in 2013: During the full moon phases, selected test subjects were measured to sleep less.
However, due to the lack of data, the result was often questioned. The sleep of too few test subjects was measured over a period of time that was too short. In addition, later studies came to different results. To this day there is still disagreement about this.
Sleep disorders caused by psychological factors
He himself is convinced that the full moon does not promote sleep disorders – but his belief and belief in this myth does: “Depending on your beliefs about the occult, astrology, and other things, those beliefs will naturally affect your sleep.”
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Sleep problems during the full moon: research is lagging
Because of its gravity, the moon ultimately acts like a magnet on the Earth’s oceans – can’t this also be related to the 70 percent water content in our body?
However: The study in question by the University of Basel, which found less sleep among its test subjects during the full moon, but whose low measurement data was criticized, is the best example: Research seems to be lagging on this topic.
Full moon: What influence does the earth’s companion have on our sleep? Image: dpa / Karl-Josef Hildenbrand
Various studies from the last ten years contradict each other. Just one year after the Basel study, the Max Planck Institute came to the opposite conclusion: the full moon has no influence on sleep.
Another Study came to the conclusion in 2021 that this was indeed the case: a team from the University of Washington examined both indigenous residents of Argentine villages and urban people from Seattle. In all groups, less sleep was found during full moon phases – regardless of whether artificial light in the big city was available or not.
But nothing seems to prevail for the entire field. The sleep researcher Ingo Fietze from the Berlin Charité explained to the “SWR“: There is a lack of money and precise measuring instruments. In the laboratory, measurements are still carried out in the same way as 60 or 70 years ago: with small electrodes that only record a small part of the brain activity.
Insomnia: what helps?
If you just can’t fall asleep, sometimes it helps not to force yourself to sleep. Instead, you should consider moving to the sofa with a book to find calmer thoughts. If you relax enough, tiredness usually comes naturally.
And that couldn’t prevent the sleepless night and the next day was characterized by overtiredness, The Charité Sleep Medicine Center recommends more afternoon rest. Instead of drinking more coffee or smoking cigarettes, a short nap of up to 30 minutes is the healthier and usually more helpful option.
If you haven’t booked your vacation for this year yet, you should do so now at the latest: Not only because all the practical bridging days are already booked – and there are a particularly large number of them this year. But also because otherwise vacations become more and more expensive.