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New Research: How the Moon Controls Our Sleep


What kind of study was this?

This was a comparative observational field study, which means that researchers did not randomly assign participants to different groups. Instead, they observed and measured sleep in different groups living naturally in different conditions.

What did researchers want to know?

They wanted to know if human sleep patterns (how late and how long humans sleep) are connected to the cycles of the moon, regardless of whether humans live in rural or urban conditions.

What did the researchers actually do?

They closely tracked the sleep activity (bedtime and length of sleep) for people living under a range of conditions, from quite rural with little access to electricity to quite urban with a lot of access to electricity.

What did the researchers find?

They found that regardless of how rural or urban, or levels of access to electricity and artificial light, humans go to bed later and have shorter sleep around the time of a full moon than other times in the month.

They also found that this association is stronger the more rural people live and few access people have to electricity. But it's still detectable in people who live with a lot of electricity and artificial light!

Researchers also found that people who had a lot of access to electricity and artificial light (like you and me), always went to bed later and had shorter sleep than those with little access to electricity and artificial light.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Well, first it's just a cool fact to share with the family that our bodies are affected by the lunar cycle regardless of how urbanized and artificially bright our modern environments are.

But more practically, it means that our bedtimes and sleep duration naturally fluctuate, and we can expect to go to bed a bit later and sleep a bit less around the full moon.

Most important, it means that artificial light, while not totally destroying our sleep relationship with the moon, diminishes this natural response in our bodies. The less artificial light at night we're exposed to, the more our natural sleep rhythms will emerge.

New Research: How the Moon Controls Our Sleep

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New Research: How the Moon Controls Our Sleep

Research shows that bedtimes and sleep duration naturally fluctuate with the moon's cycles, even if we live in urban areas with lots of artificial light

By

The Yes Collective Expert Team

June 3, 2021

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What kind of study was this?

This was a comparative observational field study, which means that researchers did not randomly assign participants to different groups. Instead, they observed and measured sleep in different groups living naturally in different conditions.

What did researchers want to know?

They wanted to know if human sleep patterns (how late and how long humans sleep) are connected to the cycles of the moon, regardless of whether humans live in rural or urban conditions.

What did the researchers actually do?

They closely tracked the sleep activity (bedtime and length of sleep) for people living under a range of conditions, from quite rural with little access to electricity to quite urban with a lot of access to electricity.

What did the researchers find?

They found that regardless of how rural or urban, or levels of access to electricity and artificial light, humans go to bed later and have shorter sleep around the time of a full moon than other times in the month.

They also found that this association is stronger the more rural people live and few access people have to electricity. But it's still detectable in people who live with a lot of electricity and artificial light!

Researchers also found that people who had a lot of access to electricity and artificial light (like you and me), always went to bed later and had shorter sleep than those with little access to electricity and artificial light.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Well, first it's just a cool fact to share with the family that our bodies are affected by the lunar cycle regardless of how urbanized and artificially bright our modern environments are.

But more practically, it means that our bedtimes and sleep duration naturally fluctuate, and we can expect to go to bed a bit later and sleep a bit less around the full moon.

Most important, it means that artificial light, while not totally destroying our sleep relationship with the moon, diminishes this natural response in our bodies. The less artificial light at night we're exposed to, the more our natural sleep rhythms will emerge.


What kind of study was this?

This was a comparative observational field study, which means that researchers did not randomly assign participants to different groups. Instead, they observed and measured sleep in different groups living naturally in different conditions.

What did researchers want to know?

They wanted to know if human sleep patterns (how late and how long humans sleep) are connected to the cycles of the moon, regardless of whether humans live in rural or urban conditions.

What did the researchers actually do?

They closely tracked the sleep activity (bedtime and length of sleep) for people living under a range of conditions, from quite rural with little access to electricity to quite urban with a lot of access to electricity.

What did the researchers find?

They found that regardless of how rural or urban, or levels of access to electricity and artificial light, humans go to bed later and have shorter sleep around the time of a full moon than other times in the month.

They also found that this association is stronger the more rural people live and few access people have to electricity. But it's still detectable in people who live with a lot of electricity and artificial light!

Researchers also found that people who had a lot of access to electricity and artificial light (like you and me), always went to bed later and had shorter sleep than those with little access to electricity and artificial light.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Well, first it's just a cool fact to share with the family that our bodies are affected by the lunar cycle regardless of how urbanized and artificially bright our modern environments are.

But more practically, it means that our bedtimes and sleep duration naturally fluctuate, and we can expect to go to bed a bit later and sleep a bit less around the full moon.

Most important, it means that artificial light, while not totally destroying our sleep relationship with the moon, diminishes this natural response in our bodies. The less artificial light at night we're exposed to, the more our natural sleep rhythms will emerge.


What kind of study was this?

This was a comparative observational field study, which means that researchers did not randomly assign participants to different groups. Instead, they observed and measured sleep in different groups living naturally in different conditions.

What did researchers want to know?

They wanted to know if human sleep patterns (how late and how long humans sleep) are connected to the cycles of the moon, regardless of whether humans live in rural or urban conditions.

What did the researchers actually do?

They closely tracked the sleep activity (bedtime and length of sleep) for people living under a range of conditions, from quite rural with little access to electricity to quite urban with a lot of access to electricity.

What did the researchers find?

They found that regardless of how rural or urban, or levels of access to electricity and artificial light, humans go to bed later and have shorter sleep around the time of a full moon than other times in the month.

They also found that this association is stronger the more rural people live and few access people have to electricity. But it's still detectable in people who live with a lot of electricity and artificial light!

Researchers also found that people who had a lot of access to electricity and artificial light (like you and me), always went to bed later and had shorter sleep than those with little access to electricity and artificial light.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Well, first it's just a cool fact to share with the family that our bodies are affected by the lunar cycle regardless of how urbanized and artificially bright our modern environments are.

But more practically, it means that our bedtimes and sleep duration naturally fluctuate, and we can expect to go to bed a bit later and sleep a bit less around the full moon.

Most important, it means that artificial light, while not totally destroying our sleep relationship with the moon, diminishes this natural response in our bodies. The less artificial light at night we're exposed to, the more our natural sleep rhythms will emerge.

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