Study Findings, Moon Phase Affects Men's Sleep Quality

Illustration of factors influencing sleep quality in men (Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio)

JAKARTA – The lunar cycle is not only a benchmark for agrarian life. But since thousands of years ago, the full moon is thought to affect a person's sleep patterns, especially for men. Initially, the assumption was based on myths. But later studies proved the effectiveness of the lunar cycle on sleep patterns.

Christian Benedict, a professor of neuroscience at Uppsala University, Sweden, studied sleep patterns about the phases of the moon using polysomnography techniques. Not only processing data took over several years by Eva Lindberg, professor of medical science at Uppsala University.

Lindberg's data were taken from 360 male and 492 female participants in the sleep apnea study. Benedict used a device to track the participant's brain activity, heart rhythm, muscle movement, and eye activity during their sleep at night.

Benedict mapped the lunar cycles of the 852 participants and aligned calendar dates from sleep recordings to the phases of the moon that night. When analyzing the data, as reported by Fatherly, Thursday, September 30, Benedict wasn't looking for anything in particular, just letting the data speak for the facts.

"The effect is different between men and women", said Benedict explaining the results of his study.

During the waxing phase, sleep recordings in male participants showed that their sleep quality was not as good as during the waning moon phase. The study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment is correlative and needs more validation.

But the researcher, Benedict, explained that previous research has shown that the male brain is more responsive to ambient light than the female brain. During the waxing phase or when the crescent moon is bright after the new moon, it emits more light.

"Men may have a lot of problems during the waxing period because they are more sensitive to light reflected by the moon to Earth", said Benedict of his findings.

Close Benedict, in the myriad of variables that affect sleep and the moon, is only one of them. So, do you feel that you are getting less sleep when you are nearing the full moon?