Pink Moon will peak tonight but be warned – it could trigger sleep problems and even VIOLENCE

Stargazers can get their money’s worth tonight when the so-called “Pink Moon” rises in the sky.

The April Full Moon – often referred to as the “Pink Moon” – will shine brightly tomorrow morning at 05:34 BST as it reaches full phase.

Despite its name, the moon maintains its brownish gray color throughout the spectacle ‘pink’ actually refers to the color of the ground flowers.

Full moons are still mysterious, and various studies suggest that they can trigger sleep problems, anxiety, and even violence.

The belief that the moon affects human health first arose in early folklore, reports Royal Museums Greenwich, with frequent signs of increased sleep problems and seizures.

While the scientific basis for such connections is currently weak, some recent studies claim to have found a connection between the moon and sleep.

In 2021, a number of scientists at Yale and the University of Washington found that people generally fall asleep less on nights before a full moon.

This has been linked to differences in light intensity preventing sleep in the early hours of the night.

The study explained: “In this context, it is primarily the moonlight available in the first hours of the night that is more likely to lead to changes in sleep onset.

“In contrast, late at night, when most people are normally asleep, moonlight should have little effect on the onset or duration of sleep.”

It is understood that a full moon can bring 250 times more luminosity than a moonless night and 25 times more than when a crescent moon is visible.

However, the impact of this has been widely studied in the context of communities living without electricity.

It’s also at odds with a number of other studies, including a 2015 one that found no link between sleep and lunar cycles in more than 2,000 people.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen therefore believe that the impact of moonlight may be limited in more urban settings.

‘In modern urban societies, where most of us are surrounded by lots of artificial light and spend most of our evenings and nights indoors, this effect is likely to be small.

For generations, many people have also believed that full moons are associated with fear and even violent behavior.

This idea goes back to Aristotle, who believed that water in the brain makes people susceptible to moon phases.

However, the prevailing scientific evidence suggests that this is not the case, as one study actually found a drop in homicide rates during a full moon.

Analysis of 17,966 medical records also showed no association between psychiatric patient admissions or hospital lengths of stay and lunar cycles.

This week’s Pink Moon is expected to be visible for a few days around April 6, provided there are clear skies.

“Like the Earth, the moon has a day side and a night side that change as the moon rotates,” NASA explained.

“The sun always illuminates half of the moon while the other half remains dark, but how much of that illuminated half we can see changes as the moon moves through its orbit.”

At full moon, the sun illuminates the entire day side of the moon, making it appear full and bright in the night sky.

“The Moon faces the Sun as seen from Earth, showing the day side of the Moon,” NASA explained. ‘A full moon rises about sunset and sets about sunrise.’

While not turning pink this time, the Moon can occasionally take on an orange or yellow hue as part of a rare Blood Moon event.

Very rarely, the moon can even appear blue, perhaps viewed through a veil of dust like volcanic ash, says Royal Museums Greenwich.