AI Article Synopsis
- Before artificial lights, moonlight was the main light source influencing night activities, but its effect on sleep timing is debated.
- A study using wrist actimetry showed that people's sleep patterns align with the lunar cycle, regardless of their living environment, from rural communities in Argentina to urban settings in the U.S.
- The findings indicate that nights leading up to the full moon have later sleep start times and shorter sleep durations, suggesting that moonlight may have historically increased nighttime activity and reduced sleep in preindustrial societies.
Article Abstract
Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still, evidence for the modulation of sleep timing by lunar phases is controversial. Here, we use wrist actimetry to show a clear synchronization of nocturnal sleep timing with the lunar cycle in participants living in environments that range from a rural setting with and without access to electricity in indigenous Toba/Qom communities in Argentina to a highly urbanized postindustrial setting in the United States. Our results show that sleep starts later and is shorter on the nights before the full moon when moonlight is available during the hours following dusk. Our data suggest that moonlight likely stimulated nocturnal activity and inhibited sleep in preindustrial communities and that access to artificial light may emulate the ancestral effect of early-night moonlight.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7840136 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe0465 | DOI Listing |
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