Sleep cycles fluctuate with lunar phases, according to new study

Swiss researchers say they've found evidence that the lunar cycle may affect human sleep patterns. "Melatonin levels, total sleep time and delta sleep time (the deepest sleep, as recorded by EEG) reached their lowest levels at full moon, and their highest as the moon waxed and waned. The average time it took to fall asleep and the time to arrive at REM sleep (the type of sleep in which dreams occur) followed the opposite pattern, longest at the full moon and shorter as it waxed and waned." [NYTimes.com]