Astronomical observers, besides looking at galaxies incredibly far away (over 30 billion light-years), often observe the moon, the closest celestial body to us, only 1.3 light-seconds away. The moon's influence on Earth is obvious; the twice-daily tides at the beach are a direct manifestation of its impact. The moon affects animals and may also have a subconscious influence on humans. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle used smartwatches on over a hundred members of an Argentinian tribal community to record their time to go to sleep and number of hours in sleep. Similarly, they gave several hundred University of Washington students same smartwatches. The indigenous tribe's environment, illuminated only by moonlight at night, is vastly different from Seattle's brightly lit nights. Strangely, the same pattern of delayed sleep (30-40 minutes) observed in the indigenous people in the days leading up to the full moon also occurred among the Seattle university students. Furthermore, researchers found that during the new moon (when there is no moon), many people in both groups experienced reduced sleep duration. Of course, during a new or full moon, the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned in a straight line. The pull of gravity is quite unique, and it's unclear whether the human body subconsciously senses this uniqueness and reacts differently. Furthermore, Thomas Wehr of the NIH in Maryland suggests that the human body may react to the moon's gravity. In a 2017 paper, he and other researchers tracked 17 patients with bipolar disorder for 37.5 years, finding that many patients' mood episodes coincided with new or full moons. It seems that the alignment of the sun, earth, and moon suggests some mysterious force subconsciously influencing certain bodily functions.

(2024-07-28)