Can lunar cycle ruin men’s sleep?

MEN’S sleep could be affected by the cycles of the moon, scientists have said.

When the moon is between the new moon and full moon in the lunar cycle, men spend more time awake through the night, a study has found.

Women are less affected – perhaps because men are more sensitive to light.

Swedish researchers from Uppsala University looked at 852 people whose sleep was tracked over one night.

Men had worse sleep when the moon was ‘waxing’, or getting larger.

The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, looked at the ‘waxing’ moon, between the new moon and full moon, when it tends to appear in the afternoon or evening.

Researchers also wanted to see how people slept during a ‘waning moon’, after the full moon and up until new moon, when the moon is visible at night or in the early hours.

Men’s sleep efficiency – the amount of time in bed they spent actually asleep – was lower if their sleep was tracked during a waxing moon.

They woke for longer periods during the night, the study found, even when other factors which harm sleep, including insomnia and the medical condition sleep apnoea, were taken into account.

There was much less of a link between the lunar cycle and sleep for the 492 women in the study.