If you have trouble sleeping certain times the month, it could be because a full moon. Scientists from the University of Washington say there is a link between the lunar cycle and sleeping patterns. They say that nights when there is a full moon, people could experience more restless sleep. The reason for this could be the Moon's changing brightness. When there is a full moon, the extra brightness the night sky could interrupt our sleep. The scientists said: "Moonlight is so bright to the human eye that it is entirely reasonable to imagine that, the absence other sources of light, this source of nocturnal light could have had a role [changing] human nocturnal activity and sleep."
The scientists conducted a study the sleep patterns over 500 people. Each person wore a special wristband that tracked their sleep. The study included 98 people an isolated village rural Argentina. These people did not have access to electricity and other artificial light sources. Their sleep patterns were compared to 464 people living in U.S. city Seattle, which has lots artificial light pollution. The scientists discovered that people the rural village and in the big city got less sleep the nights leading to the full moon. The scientists said the artificial light in cities does not seem to affect sleeping patterns and that, "human sleep is synchronised lunar phases."
