How you sleep at the full moon
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.
Before you continue, we would like you to please take part in our survey and simply click on how you sleep at full moon.
[poll id=”2″]
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!
Anybody who takes this poll seriously is an irrational fool. The majority of people that visit this site have clearly searched on google as to why they find it hard to sleep during full moon. So this poll is far from impartial, fair etc. Think about it. Ask everybody you know. I bet 91% isnt even close to the realistic figure. That said, my friend struggles to sleep when theres a full moon. I’m not saying there are not sufferers, Just that this poll is completely pointless.
The moon is for the earth and tides not for people that need false meanings to everything.
You obviously don’t regularly experience completely sleepless nights during the moon phases. I don’t give two hoots about “the meaning” of it. I just want to be able to freaking sleep.
I also wondered whether people with the star sign Cancer suffer in this way more than others
I am a cancer, it is full moon time, and I slept very little last night. I went to bed early tonight and thought I would make up for that lost sleep, but I only seem to have rested. 12:30 AM, and I am as wide awake as can be and discovering the moon connection here!
I realized about 3 years ago that my problems with sleeping were due to the full moon.. I cannot get to sleep, feel very restless and keep waking through the night..and feel like wandering about… now I prepare for this and when I know it’s going to be a full moon I take a sleeping pill when I go to bed. This helps a lot.
Hello Hannah,
Some times we humans need to just go with the ebb and the flow of the natural cycles. As this must be causing you some worries each time it comes around, I would suggest doing something that is at least restfull , perhaps meditating. At least you may benefit from being a witness to these life cycle variations. schools place far too many restrictions on us as individuals. So much knowledge is to be gained from nature , better to be aware and present !
I love the moon and everything, it’s beautiful and amazing. But for goodness sakes! I need to sleep! Every single full moon, I am mentally exhausted, but my body feels like it could run 5 miles, I do have ADHD, but sleeping is never ever a problem for me until the full moon comes around. I am only 17, and staying up till 3 from this doesn’t help me waking up at 6 for school. I try to take a hot bath, listen to relaxing music, drink milk or eat a piece of bread, but it takes a good 2 hours for any of that to “kick in”, but I doubt those are what make me finally fall asleep. Any suggestions?
My energy level is so high during the full moon period. After a few days of restlesness I go to the window at about2:30in the am or so and see he bright moon. That is when it occurs to me it’s the moon again. I have just accept the fact that is just the way my life will be when the moon is so beautifully full. A good time to pray.
Well im testony to the cant sleep on a full moon 🙂 I live in Ireland and we have a full moon tonight and guess what ? im awake all night and cant sleep ………………… yawn !!!
I find it very difficult to sleep on full moon days, I do not feel tired at night and unexplicably my legs feel swolen and my knee starts to hurt so bad that I can not ignore the pain.
So glad to find this site and that I’m not crazy. I am usually the hardest sleeper in the house and takes a bomb to wake me up the middle of the night. Last night I was up from 2 – 3:30 am with racing thoughts & vivid dreaming, was wide awake and then finally was able to go back to bed and finally slept in on a Saturday morning. But I wondered if it had something to do with the moon, I just had that feeling. Now It’s Monday morning and I know it was the moon because I was vivid dreaming again and I wake up wide awake with racing thoughts and sure enough theres the full moon where I was dreaming of a fire. My room is completely dark and not on the moon side. Sounds nice to sleep in the moon light but that’s not what is gettiing me up. And I’m menstrual and was dreaming of getting prego’s again which is not a good idea. Today’s gonna be rough cause theres no sense going back to bed now. Wow, how strange. I guess I can just be thankfull the universe is not done with me yet 🙂
I have noticed since menopause trying to sleep when there is a full moon is impossible,i actually used to stare at the full moon outside and take in its light to regulate my periods and it always worked,guaranteed
Also when the moon is full i am quite melancholy and lack energy.
when we were primitive the moon would have influenced our lives so much so that it kept us awake to hunt by its light and something about it is so mysterious as it also influences female reproductive cycles. I am a firm believer a full moons light has unexplainable powers.
I am 37 and I am not the best at getting a good nights sleep, but around the time of a full moon, sleep always gets more difficult. Last night, 27 Jan 2013, was a full moon, and needless to say I had a dreadful sleep (or should I say, lack of sleep!). I went to bed at 11pm, and spent 3 hours tossing and turning before getting up at 2am to wander around. My arms and legs were sore, and just wandered around the flat for half an hour to try and tire myself out. My neighbours probably think I am a nutter!! I finally got to sleep at around 4am, and then woke up 45 mins later and could not get back to sleep. Fortunately, I work from home these days, but when I had to drive 35 miles to work after a bad nights sleep, I really did question how safe I actually was! I have only recently discovered that there could be a link to the full moon, and it does seem to tie in with when I have the worst periods of sleep deprivation. Usually two to three days before, during and after the actual full moon.
I joined the club many years ago… It affects me most months to some degree or another. Over the last couple of nights, I have been awake in bed for 5 hours (22:30-03:30) and still nothing. I avoid tea & coffe after 4pm, don’t drink coke, I even went swimming this adternoon, hoping to relax and get decent sleep. I am anxious by nature and definitely an evening person (a bit less so, since hitting my forties).
I cannot sleep right now. I am awake for almost 2h and it’s 3.43 am because of the full moon from this night
I can not sleep when moon is Full , I guess cos Moon makes a preasure to the earth , this is why tide goes lower too , and animals have more activity
so , I party recognizing this condition
hugs from London to all Natural free people , see you in the Party
I just cant sleep on a full moon like tonight is a full moon and didnt even no it till i look out side and i been trying since 8 and man did i get tried to day but i dnt feel stange r nothing justcnt sleep its is 12:44am right now i just been laying down in the dark for the last four hours but ill fall asleep sooner or later
ive always had this problem during a full moon no matter how tired i get i cant sleep i cover my window so the moon cant shine in so my room is dark but still i cant my grandma thinks im just crazy and my teacher told me its a disorder but i dont know i just wish i could sleep
Interesting read. I did not used to have this sensitivity to the full moon growing up in The Netherlands. But I have it for sure here in NYC. My sleep is just more shallow I think.
BUt I actually get full PMS symptoms, including sometimes bloating, irritated skin, crabby mood and sometimes even tender breasts a day or so before the full moon. So there is definitely some hormonal connection. That is interesting because the 2nd chakra (hindu tradition) is related to the reproductive system and it’s image includes the moon…
same here.
I usually slepp vrey easily, and I’m not usually at all aware to the moon.
However, when I don’t seem to be able to fall asleep, It’s always on a full mon’s night , or a night before.
The expanation concerning the water and tides isn’t logical , I think, since a full moon doesn’t mean that the moon in situated differently with the earth , only that the earth dosn’t stand between it and the sun at all.
I hold two explanations – one is the ampirical, in which moon=more light, and so less feeling of nightime, sleeptime.
the other is a more new-age exlplanation, although it’s not at all my ‘regular’ view, i really feel different these nights, so I can’t help thinking that there is a certain unknown connection between chemichal or bodily reactions, or call it what you will, and the moon’s luminosity.
Anyways, it’s 2:47 – on a full night. so I’m gonna go back to my bed, and close the curtains…
Good night to eveone, it was good(?) to see I’m not the only wolfman around.
I wish that those of you who use non-gender specific names would state your gender. I am trying to determine whether this might be an issue that effects women more then men. My wife can not sleep on a full moon.
Thank goodness I have read this site, I thought it was just happening to me. Full moon last night and I was awake from 1-5.30am. Strange and vivid dreams, happens every full moon.
Michaela, what you described was exactly what happened with my wife last night. You two should talk.
i dont sleep on the full moon it is to beautiful to waist sleeping or even inside
I too am one of those whom is affected by the rise of the full moon. 3 days prior and after but more so the leading up to has a most unusual energy attached to it. my sleep is disturbed, i toss and turn until 4-5 in the morning, my sexual energies rise, I have unusual dreams, the power of thoughts are much stronger, psychic forces have me sitting on the edge of my seat. the secret, as hard as it may seem, is to not allow those energies to be used in a negative way at all and there will be no negative results from it, as I have experienced. that is why I have chosen to be enlightened by this site, to remind me it is coming. I am with others whom believe, if it affects the tides, it must affect us too. cheers
it’s a day before the full moon. I slept from 10 pm – 2:30 am. been awake. I think about life, talk to God, drink milk, eat something, and finally read. I used to worry about it because of having to work for 12 hours the next day, but now I’m retired and just accept it.
It’s for you to do this study.
Up to five days before a full moon I find it nearly impossible to sleep. My whole body feels restless; my legs and arms feel like they itch with too much energy and need to be flexed. I love moonlight and I always have. I feel guilty if I don’t get out under the light of a full moon and feel significant disappointment if clouds cover the full moonlight but the restless sleep is frustrating. At forty now, I’m trying to anticipate the full moon so that I can work at night instead of trying to fight it. What is most disappointing is how useless our science is on the subject. There is such an abundance of evidence and observations and it makes sense to me from an evolutionary point of view that a full moon excites many of us since we could hunt for animals that become easy prey in conditions that grossly inhibit their vision. Its just another fine example of how science, and the inflated egos of those that preach its “undisputed” authority are as clueless as the scientists who, not all that long ago, defended to the death that the earth was flat. I admire and respect science but recognize that of our science thus far has shed light no greater than small candle in a colossal hall.
since my early twenties and I am now in my sixties I have been plagued by toturous sleeplessness at the phase of the full moon. Many times I have tossed and turned and then realised its yet just another full moon. There has to be something even these scientists are missing. Also had a dog who lived for many years and although a fluffy lovable ragamuffin would Arch his back and howl like a wolf to the full moon. It was quite bizarre and I would worry for him as he would bri g his head down with force and clunk onto the kitchen tiles. I fortunately have never shown such behaviour but do firmly believe there is some force beaming down yet to be explained.
Restless, so restless!!!!
I am a light sleeper to begin with but I can remember always having one sleepless night as far back as my early teens. I am 30 now and have just realized that this night is the night of the full moon. If I am well rested from good sleeping prior to the full moon, I usually take advantage of the creative energy that comes along. I definitely experience a great deal of increased energy in the days leading up to the full moon. However, I can also feel very run down and tired depending on how my month has been. I think some of us must be more in tune with nature and ourselves than others. The mentally ill are in a constant battle with emotional instability, so it makes sense that they would be especially irritated during a full moon. However, i don’ t think you have to be mentally ill to sense the power (whatever it may be) from the full moon Ancient cultures used to worship the moon and the cycles had a major impact when and how they went about daily life. I am so glad to have found this post. Apparently, I am not the only one who has made this sleepless connection. I am exhausted from a day full of work in the heat and not much sleep from prior nights. Because of this, I have found this FM to be particularly irritating. Like I said, I usually have a wonderful surge of creative energy during a FM and can handle a night without sleep. This isn’t the case tonight and the FM seems to be very strong. I can’t recall one this strong in a long time. I find this all very interesting
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.
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 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.
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!
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
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.
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…
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’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.
And I just thought I was mad!!!!
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.
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.
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 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. 😛
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 ur moontwin <3
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
Thanks for your very positive comment, Derrek! I’m visiting this webpage in search for solutions for my 3 year old son’s “sleepingproblems” that are getting “worse and worse” during the 4-5 night before full moon. This night he was awake from 2:30 till 4:30. He stayed in his bed till he got hungry. Then I gave him a banana and milk and he ate it alone and apparently happy in his bed where he spent the rest of the time petting his hair, thinking (of what???!) and listening to his go-to-sleep music over and over again and talking to his teddydog from time to time. (I don’t want it to become a habit that he gets food or that I entertain him in the night, and he accepts it surprisingly well, apparently, that he has to spend the nighttime alone) At daytime he is very harmonic too. Your comment makes me wonder if this does not have to be a sleeping problem (at least not for him, but rather for us parents who does not share his enormous energy in the night) but rather, as you write, that he experience some kind of positive energy boost at this time of the months. You really gave me something to think of. Instead of serching for “cures” for him I simply might have to go to bed very early and adjust my daytime programs myself. Again thanks!
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 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 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 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
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.
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
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.
I just threw up a little on my mouth
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.
who ever says that the full moon stops them from sleeping there telling the truth. i cant sleep on the full moon. it doesnt mean you a vampire or a werewolf it means who you are. if you look at the survey up more people cant sleep. i wont sleep intill 3 in the morning and some peple sleep really fast but plez dont say its right or wrong besause your just saying it. others maybe are saying it but lisen to me, read my words , lisen to my thoughts, lisen to others thoughts.