![[IMAGE DESCRIPTION]](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/jgmain78797.jpg)
This week in the journal Current Biology, Dr. Christian Cajochen and team at the University of Basel in Switzerland claim to have demonstrated that "subjective and objective measures of sleep vary according to lunar phase."
All the more reason we should destroy the moon.
They write:
We found that around full moon, delta activity during NREM sleep—an indicator of deep sleep—decreased by 30 percent. Meanwhile, time to fall asleep increased by five minutes, and total sleep duration was reduced by 20 minutes [compared to a new moon].
They made sure it wasn't just an issue of light/darkness, either.
Cajochen told the New York Times, "The only explanation we could come up with is that maybe there is a lunar clock in the brain."
That's not very creative. Also it begs the question, right? Cajochen is referring to a concept called circalunar periodicity, which means our bodies have rhythms just like circadian rhythms, but in this case referring to a 29.5-day lunar cycle rather than a 24 hour day. They've been seen in marine animals like Galapagos iguanas. But the evidence so far in people is pretty squishy. Like Galapagos iguanas.