A lot is said about how full moon can or could influence the sleep of people. And like so often, opinions differ on this subject. Some are certain that they sleep poorly or have a restless sleep around the time of full moon and are not able to fall asleep for a long time. Others sleep like a log … in between there are many who are not aware of any of this and not able to determine by their sleep patterns whether it is full moon or not.
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The day-night rhythm of people is controlled, amongst others, by the hormone melatonin. In darkness, the melatonin levels rise and the body ensures that we are feeling tired. This shows in winter, for example, where due to the less amount of daylight, more sleep hormones are being produced. Now one could get the idea to argue, because of full moon the night is brighter and therefore less sleep hormones are distributed. This assumption is relativized immediately, if you look at the brightness of the full moon light (max. 1 lux) in comparison to the sun light (up to and over 100,000 lux). The moon light should effectively not play a large part for the melatonin. Also, most of us nowadays, change night into day and generally have the possibility to darken their bedrooms. So there have to be other reasons if someone does not sleep well at full moon.
To get to the bottom of this, a series of researches have been conducted, where sleep behaviour of participants has been observed during the moon cycle phases. Miscellaneous universities and sleep laboratories tried to shed light into dark. But over and over again, you can read the same results: no measurable connection between the full moon and the sleep quality or duration!
We were merely able to find a Swiss study from 2006 that was able to assess a connection:
»… Subjective sleep duration varied with the lunar cycle, from 6 h 41 min at full moon to 7 h 00 min at new moon (P < 0.001). [...] There was also evidence that rating of fatigue in the morning was associated with moon phase, with more tiredness (P = 0.027) at full moon. …«
Röösli M, Jüni P et al.
J Sleep Res. 2006 Jun;15(2):149-53
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
This study is insofar interesting, because the focus of the research had originally other contents. The test subjects were actually not aware of the connection to the moon activities. However, the result is rather insignificant in comparison to all those many studies that do not establish any connection at all.
Now that looks a proper mess: Many sleep poorly and nobody can prove it? Everything just imagination or the famous »self-fulfilling prophecy«? It appears to turn into one of these full moon subjects again that move between scepticism and mysticism, between feelings and mind. A lot more time may pass by, until more clarity can be obtained as how you sleep at full moon.
Until then, we would like to wish all our readers: Sleep well!
With a full Moon I am either feeling great or bloody aweful.
but it dosn’t affect my sleep patterns.
God will wake me up during a full moon to take me to the window to see the gift He has given me.
You nailed it perfectly RB. I say to my wife that “this is a good moon” or I say this is a “bad moon.” A good moon I feel fine but a bad moon I feel terrible.
You mean there are people who actually sleep in the couple of days before and during the full moon?
Nice one ;-)
Yep like me!! Wake-up early no matter what so in just continue untill i go knocky-out..but i bade in the moonlight while i sleep..and my ovulation cycle goes with the moon..fullmoon;ovulation..no moon;menstruation..XX..if i live in the day-time and sleep at night…if i live in the night and sleep in the day my period comes with the full-moon!!XX
My whole life, I have never been able to sleep during a full moon. Sometimes, I get to sleep, and the beautiful full moon wakes me up.
I sleep poorly 2 nights before the full moon. I am 82 years old. I spent my life working in an institution for the mentally handicapped and many of them had trouble sleping at the time of the full moon.
Lydia
I have always loved the week of the waxing and full moon. Not only beautiful to view the illuminated landscape at night, but it has a calming affect on me that ensures a good nights sleep.
I was born on a full Moon. I do not sleep well and always feel strange around that time. My friend who is an EMT says all the crazies happen on a night of a Full moon.
I always feel GREAT before and during a full moon. So full of LIFE! And I sleep wonderfully as well. Love the days before and the full moon! :)
I usually have too much energy leading up to the full moon and sleep is interupted but in a good way . Also some full moons seem to be stimulating while others more relaxing and nurturing
Around 70% of full moons I feel strange
I get weird pains all over arms legs and chest
Hard too sleep
Starts around 2-3 before and lasts 1-2 after
the other 30% of the full moons I feel normal
It took me almost 40 years to finaly realise it was the full moon havng these affects on me
I am fifty-seven years old and for the last thirty years I have kept a records of how I feel during the full moon. Exactly a week before the full moon I feel tired and run down. When I wake up it feels like I have a load of bricks on my shoulders and nothing goes right. The worst things always happen to me during that tiime. I’m a former police officer and I have seen some of the most gruesome things happen during that time. Having worked traffic as a police officer, I especially notice people’s driving habits. It’s my opinion that they are more rude and inconsiderate during that period. A friend suggested that it’s actually Biorythms. I’m trying to figure out what a Biorythm is. I was just curious if any body else feels this way especially around seven days before the full moon. My wife says that I am more in tune with myself.
There is a lot of information about biorythms online, my mother swears by it. Reading your comment reminded me to look at mine, and it sort of makes sense why i am feeling like I have just been run over by a truck. But I would also take it with a pinch of salt, these things are never an exact science, and one should never base great personal decisions on them. None the less, I always feel different around full moons, but whatever way I am feeling it is definitely magnified. I never sleep well during the full moon, strange dreams, insomnia. :P
In the four or five days up to a Full Moon my energy levels increase dramatically – I am so busy, it’s like being filled with a new power – I joke that I am turning into a werewolf! – when the Full Moon is passing overhead, it is very difficult for me to sleep – and then when it has passed, my energy drains away. I had an argument with a scientist friend of mine who said it could not possibly affect me, it’s too far away, and cited all the maths. And yet, the moon affects the tides, and my body is mostly water. I said, Well, I know how I FEEL during the Full Moon, and that is how it is !
I’ve read in a book that we can’t sleep well on a full moon night because it pulls the water to our heads keeping us up all night
I tend to be a light sleeper, however, I’ve taken steps to improve my sleep and I’ve done much better. The great exception is when it’s a full moon. I never realized this and then I would wake up, toss and turn, then realize the next day it was a full moon. This happened almost every month for several months in a row and then I realized that I should plan for this full moon effect and plan activities accordingly. The problem is, I never know for sure if it’s going to happen the night BEFORE the full moon or the night AFTER. I can have nights of restful sleep the entire month and then have one bad night immediately before or after the full moon. It happens reliably.
I really think Leandra has a valid point…the human body is mostly water and the moon does most definitely affect the tides so why not the body. I do not sleep @ full moon and no one has to tell me it is a full moon, it is most obvious. My worst nite usually is the nite prior to the full moon. Believe it or not I think the new moon may actually affect me more. I maybe that Werewolf you speak of.
And I just thought I was mad!!!!
I’ve been staying up until about 3-7 in the morning for about a week now. I’ve noticed that, although I CAN fall asleep, I am much more active during and after a full moon. In between cycles, I would never be able to stay awake until 6:30 and still function on two hours of sleep.
I know that the week leading up to the full moon, I experience much higher level of mania as well as the level falling back to it’s more “normal” level for me right after the full moon. I also know that when I was still having my monthly menstrual cycle, it was much heavier flow then if it fell a few days later or earlier then during the full moon. Just my own personal observations.
i do not sleep much (& dont fight it) during the 2-3 days leading up to full moon…When it is all the way full …i sleep the best…if i chose to…sometimes I deliberately stay up to enjoy the full moon light and energy…
Yes, I would say that the full moon affects people in some ways. I and a colleague worked in a mental institution on night shifts in the UK during the eighties and almost every full moon nights the elderly patients we look after would be disturbed and restless,the were mostly people who suffered from dementia,they could not make that happen at will, I believe as the moon affect the tides it affects people.
A week before a full moon my husband experiences headaches, anger over nothing, racing thoughts, very tired, nothing goes right he drops everything he touches. The car will break down, cat or dog gets sick, scheduled appointments are broken at the last minute with someone that you have had the appointment for a long time. During this time of the month we NEVER start a new project…..we chill and go with the flow.
Hi Jan
That is so interesting to read of your husbands changes the week before a full moon. I am exactly the same, clumsy, very tired, emotional, angry, forgetting appointments and not bothered about consequences etc etc. So please you shared, i feel but better knowing someone else has these feelings too.
x
I don’t know how I sleep on all full moons, but this one, August 13, 2011, I slept soundly until 2:00 am. I got up to see the full moon but in NYC it was overcast and heavy rain. So I went back to sleep for another 5 hours. Feel great today!
I love to lay in bed with the moonlight just casting over my face. I close my eyes to the light of the moon and drift into my sleep. It soothes me. I just adore my full moons!
I have my bed set in the southern part of my bedroom just by the window. I so love to sleep in the moonlight. Full moons are fabulous.
does anyone know how to sleep when the fullmoon is coming around? I take persciption sleeping pills and end-up waking up around 2a.m. I start going though mood swings and sleepless nights 3-5 days befor the full moon and during fall time it tends to last a day or 2 after.it sure was fun when i was a teenager,but its getting to be pain as i get older.and for those who don’t beleive in this being a real problem,like my doctor.just ask some people you know.most people don’t talk about it unless they are asked about it. i keeped my problem to myself for years because i thought that it would make me look like a freek.but when it started to affect my work i started to look for help.nothing that works yet but i keep hoping.after being up till 6am last night tossing and turning i can’t wait till the moon goes away.
I always have sleepless nights on full and new moons. I am so energised on those nights, even when I don’t know it is either of the moons affecting me, and then, like tonight, I spent hours writing my diary thinking I was just anxious, then realised that the night outside seemed lighter, and as usual checked the diary and there was the answer for not sleeping. I think a good study would be to see how full moon and new moon affect those people who consider themselves anxious in life, for whatever reason, or have mental issues that have not been dealt with, or maybe not even be discovered. There are also people who are oblivious or unaffected by many things in life, maybe less sensitive, or maybe there are people who are / or seem to be perfectly happy with everything, and they always seem to sleep well. One friend said to me that full moon always tells you of problems in life that need resolving and new moon is a reminder if you haven’t already started tackling them. This kind of works for me, as, like tonight, I spent a good hour writing my diary and emptying my head even before I realised it was full moon. I also did a great yoga practice earlier, which is another sign of the additional energy I get from full moon. My advice would be to take it as it is, enjoy the extra energy and use it positively. If you don’t sleep, and I never do, then at least you will have done more than stare at the ceiling! But a study based on the personalities of the people affected would be interesting.