Deep and restful sleep is vital for good health. However, there are many reasons that can prevent you from getting just that. These can include factors such as bad sleeping position, wearing clothes to bed or even overthinking before going to bed. Surprisingly, there is another environmental factor we can add to the list: a full moon!
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Yes, according to Mattress Next Day, a full moon can affect how much sleep you get for up to five days before! That's almost a week of poor sleep, which could have a massive impact on your health, mood and productivity.
Here's why full moon insomnia is a thing and what experts advice on how to get a good night's sleep.
Full moon and its effects on sleep
As per the Sleep Foundation, many studies have found compelling evidence that the moon and its different phases has an impact on the natural world, including on trees, animals, waves, and also on human sleep cycles, with the full moon phase being the most disruptive to our sleep.
One study found that during this phase, participants in the research took 5 minutes longer to fall asleep, slept 20 minutes less, took longer to reach REM sleep, and experienced a 30% reduction in deep sleep. Similar findings were also reported by other studies.
There have been sufficient variations in the locations and sample size with which such sleep researches were conducted. These provide compelling evidence that the full moon phase negatively affects our sleep.
Why does full moon affect sleep?
As per Sleep Foundation, there could be three reasons, among others, which results in full moon's disruption of our sleep: moonlight, electromagnetism and gravity. Note that these are all theories and not proven completely.
Mattress Next Day reports that 'moon breathing' could help you cope with full moon insomnia. Interest on this subject has shot up on the Internet recently. Moon breathing involves breathing in through your left nostril. As per Yoga teacher Gemma Nice, the benefits of moon breathing are manifold,
It allows you to regulate your breath, heart rate and nervous system, allowing you to feel calm, relaxed, and sleepy without your head being full of unread emails or emails which need to be responded to right now, or pressure of an upcoming board meeting.
It allows you to feel calm and relaxed and release the emotions from stress and anxiety.
Here's how to practice moon breathing:
- Be seated or lay down down and close your eyes
- Push your shoulders down away from your ears. Breath to feel centred and calm
- Close off your right nostril with your right thumb
- Inhale through your left nostril and close it off with your fourth finger
- Exhale out through the right nostril
- Repeat the same pattern for a few minutes or until you feel calmer and more relaxed
Read more:
⋙ The side of the bed you sleep on can can say a lot about your personality
⋙ This is why we sleep less as we get older, science explains
⋙ Scientists now know what hides inside the Moon
Sources used:
Mattress Next Day: ' How Moon Breathing Can Unlock The Secret To Your Sleep'
Sleep Foundation: 'Do Moon Phases Affect Your Sleep?'
