Moon Cycles Affect Human Sleep
月相影响人类睡眠
The lunar cycle affects the night sky, the tides and even the fertility of certain marine species. And it turns out, we can add your shuteye to the list. According to a new study, humans sleep poorly on nights near a full moon. The work is published in the journal Current Biology. [Christian Cajochen et al, Evidence that the Lunar Cycle Influences Human Sleep]
月相影响夜空,潮汐,甚至影响特定海洋物种的繁衍。最近我们发现,睡眠跟月相也有关系。一份最新的研究显示月圆时人类容易失眠。这个研究发表在《当代生物学》杂志上。
To test the moon's effect, 33 adult volunteers of both sexes and various ages spent several nights in a sleep lab. As they dozed, researchers monitored their brain activity, eye movements and hormone levels. On nights closer to a full moon, the subjects took an average of five minutes longer to fall asleep, and slept for 20 minutes less. In addition, brain activity decreased by 30 percent during the sleep stage that the brain normally uses to recover from its daylight work. And levels of melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate sleep cycles, dropped.
为了验证月亮的影响,33名年龄各异的成年男女自愿参与了实验,他们在一个睡眠实验室度过了几晚。当他们睡觉的时候,研究人员监测了他们的大脑活动,眼球活动和激素水平。在月球接近满月的夜晚,实验者平均花费5分钟入睡,睡眠减少20分钟。而且大脑活动在睡眠过程中减少30%,通常大脑通过活动得到休息。帮助调节睡眠周期的褪黑素也减少了。
On these nights, the sleepers complained of poor sleep quality even though they were unaware of the lunar cycle. On the bright side, not a single participant turned into a werewolf.
月圆的晚上,实验者抱怨睡眠质量之差,尽管他们没有意识到月相的变化。幸运的是,实验过程中,没有人变成狼人。
—Sophie Bushwick