Like a magical effect and ‘dark’ is involved, it seems that the moon, when it is in its full phase, catches the human dream. At least in part. A team of researchers from the University of Basel in Switzerland have been observed during full moon nights, men have a harder time falling asleep, sleep less and worse.
They say that wakesbeasts, wolves howl more, alter moods of people, fanning his baser instincts, increasing attentions in the ER … Since ancient times, the moon been granted the gift of fertility , the tides of influence on the behavior of animals and men.
The relationship between the moon and man has been and remains a mystery full of myths and legends. One of the most widespread belief has to do with the connection between the satellite and the dream of man. To check the extent to which they are attached, a group of experts has done an experiment with 33 people. “Many people complain of sleep worse the full moon,” explain the authors of this retrospective study, published in the journal Current Biology.
“We hypothesised that people who sleep worse during periods of full moon is because they are more exposed to ambient light (from the moon in this phase),” argues Francisco Javier Puertas, a specialist in the Sleep Unit Chiron Hospital of Valencia. “ In the retina there are cells that detect light, especially white (like the moon). These cells are connected to the nucleus suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is the biological clock, so that the presence of light inhibits melatonin secretion and evening, the secretion of this substance is indicative of good sleep “.
However, this research focuses on the dream of participants in a controlled environment in the laboratory, where humans know the moon phases. Scientists monitoring their brain activity (via EEG), eye movements observed and measured hormone secretions . After repeating the experiments and measurements check several times, “we realized that indeed, humans respond to geophysical rhythms of the moon,” says Christian Cajochen, lead author and research psychiatrist at the University Hospital of Basel (Switzerland).
According to the results obtained during the full moon, the brain activity associated with deep sleep fell by 30%. In addition, participants “took to fall asleep five minutes that in other phases and the dream ended 20 minutes early.” Not only that, they also had the feeling that his dream on a full moon had been worse, less restful. “The levels of melatonin (a hormone that is involved in regulation of sleep cycles and waking) were lower.”
These findings Cajochen emphasizes, “are the first convincing evidence that lunar cycles may modulate sleep in humans even when they see the moon [as in this experiment] and has no knowledge of the actual moon phase.” It is, he says, neither more nor less than “ legacy of a past in which the moon could have synchronized human behaviors for reproductive purposes or other, as also occurs in animals.”
“It’s been thousands of years and, in some way, has been in our genetic lunar cycle recorded in our sleep rhythm. Thus, as the authors of this study, seven of every 28 days (lunar cycle) sleep worse (by the influence of the moon) “concludes the Spanish specialist to discuss the Swiss study.
At present, add the authors of the research, the effect of the moon could be overshadowed by the electric light illuminating the houses and streets at night and other aspects of modern life also in quality incfluyen sleepy (such as shift work). It is important to “move forward and investigate molecular and neural bases that underlie sleep disturbance occurred, in theory, geomagnetic and electromagnetic effects of the moon.” Would you consider also the “lunar effect on other aspects such as cognitive performance and mood”.
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