{"id":266155,"date":"2013-07-27T00:53:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T00:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2013\/07\/27\/neurosciencestuff-bad-nights-sleep-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2018-10-12T22:25:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T22:25:42","slug":"neurosciencestuff-bad-nights-sleep-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2013\/07\/27\/neurosciencestuff-bad-nights-sleep-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-266155 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2013\/07\/27\/neurosciencestuff-bad-nights-sleep-the-moon\/attachment\/266156\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mqjj3vihMs1rog5d1o1_400-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mqjj3vihMs1rog5d1o1_400-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mqjj3vihMs1rog5d1o1_400-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neurosciencestuff.tumblr.com\/post\/56554760221\/bad-nights-sleep-the-moon-could-be-to-blame\" class=\"tumblr_blog\" target=\"_blank\">neurosciencestuff<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2013-07\/cp-bns071813.php\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Bad night\u2019s sleep? The moon could be to blame<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many people complain about poor sleep around the full moon, and now a report appearing in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/retrieve\/pii\/S0960982213007549\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Current Biology<\/em><\/a>, a Cell Press publication, on July 25 offers some of the first convincing scientific evidence to suggest that this really is true. The findings add to evidence that humans\u2014despite the comforts of our civilized world\u2014still respond to the geophysical rhythms of the moon, driven by a circalunar clock.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The lunar cycle seems to influence human sleep, even when one does not \u2018see\u2019 the moon and is not aware of the actual moon phase,&rdquo; says Christian Cajochen of the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel.<\/p>\n<p>In the new study, the researchers studied 33 volunteers in two age groups in the lab while they slept. Their brain patterns were monitored while sleeping, along with eye movements and hormone secretions.<\/p>\n<p>The data show that around the full moon, brain activity related to deep sleep dropped by 30 percent. People also took five minutes longer to fall asleep, and they slept for twenty minutes less time overall. Study participants felt as though their sleep was poorer when the moon was full, and they showed diminished levels of melatonin, a hormone known to regulate sleep and wake cycles.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is the first reliable evidence that a lunar rhythm can modulate sleep structure in humans when measured under the highly controlled conditions of a circadian laboratory study protocol without time cues,&rdquo; the researchers say.<\/p>\n<p>Cajochen adds that this circalunar rhythm might be a relic from a past in which the moon could have synchronized human behaviors for reproductive or other purposes, much as it does in other animals. Today, the moon\u2019s hold over us is usually masked by the influence of electrical lighting and other aspects of modern life.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers say it would be interesting to look more deeply into the anatomical location of the circalunar clock and its molecular and neuronal underpinnings. And, they say, it could turn out that the moon has power over other aspects of our behavior as well, such as our cognitive performance and our moods.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>neurosciencestuff: Bad night\u2019s sleep? The moon could be to blame Many people complain about poor sleep around the full moon, and now a report appearing in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on July 25 offers some of the first convincing scientific evidence to suggest that this really is true. The findings add to evidence &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2013\/07\/27\/neurosciencestuff-bad-nights-sleep-the-moon\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[185],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266157,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266155\/revisions\/266157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}