All this daylight at this time of the year, just two days past the summer solstice here in the northern hemisphere. In fact, we’re still at the point where the sun won’t rise later or set earlier for a day or two.
Beautiful.
So a few days ago I awoke with a jolt.
No, it was not because Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle was stirring because the sun had come up around 5 a.m., and she wanted to go out in the backyard of the Little B here in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood to take care of her morning needs.
Moon over my bedroom.
No, this 2 a.m. state of wake-up-endness came from a full moon, shining straight into the bedroom window and into my eyes.
Unable to fall straight back to sleep, I grabbed my iPad Air off the bedside table and snapped this photo, taken while still prone, to prove my point.
Has the moonlight ever caused you to awaken with a jolt? How early does the sun get you up around the solstice? Are you a morning person or a night person?
Mark Bialczak 
Just the other day, I found out the sun comes up just before 5 now.
I do rise earlier in the summer. I mean, I don’t, really, because 9 months of the year demand the alarm clock. Without the alarm clock, in the winter, I’ll sleep til 10-10:30 and in the summer, I’ll rise much earlier. It is the sun, absolutely.
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Yup, Joey. Harder to drag myself out from under the covers six months from now. 😦
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i’ve had the moon shine into my bedroom window and totally surprise me. it is an interesting kind of light, unlike any other i think. i’m totally a morning person so i only see the moon when it comes out early, generally. )
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It does have a different glow, moonlight, Beth. You are so right. Van Morrison sang about it perfectly, I think. ❤
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I’m definitely a night person… The morning doesn’t like me! It’s probably because I go to bed way too late. 😳
Great shot! I do love a full moon, despite the wolves coming out! 🌙
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Get some sleep, Amanda! You need your rest, my dear. ❤ Don't stay up so late.
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I certainly do! 😴
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So hard to capture that in a photo. The full moon this week, amazing. ☺
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I felt lucky to catch it in my sleep state, Van. 😮
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As an aside Mark, I have a guest post over at Barb Taub’s. If you have time to drop by, I would be honored. Thank you. https://barbtaub.com/2016/06/23/if-it-has-tires-or-testosterone-guest-post-by-paul-curran-throwbackthursday/
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I sure will, Paul.
Hey, gang, take a visit to Barb’s place. She’s got a great spot in addition to Paul’s guest column.
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That’s a really interesting observation Mark. You know there is an old wives tale that if you are awakened by the moon that you are subject to bad spirits inhabiting your psyche. Ha! And like most old wives tales there is a nugget of truth in there. It turns out that we are programmed to be light sensitive when we sleep. It is a survival characteristic that was developed to respond to the fact that the few predators that can threaten us – i.e. big cats, hyenas, snakes, etc- are nocturnal and hunt by moonlight. The brighter the moonlight, the more active are the predators. hence we are programmed to arise at the presence of light at night. When our sleep is interrupted, it leads to sleep deprivation and a grouchy attitude – or “Spirits”.
I came across this info when I was diagnosed with colon cancer years ago (clear now for 10 years +) and I did a bunch of research into the causes of this cancer. These causes are basically still unknown although the greatest contributor that seems common across the spectrum is stress. Over 75% of colon cancer patients report high stress levels within a year prior to diagnosis. Anyway, there are a number of other potential contributing causes – none of which have been proven but which are deemed likely contributors. The highest probability contributor is light pollution. Our sleeping environment is continually under attack by more and more ambient light. Whether it is street lights or TV’s or other devices in the bedroom, This is a problem. The very same genetic survival characteristic that reduces sleep and increases awareness in a brighter sleeping environment causes us to sleep lighter, shorter and less deeply when it is not completely dark in the bedroom. And this is bad because of the way our bodies do repair work. Our bodies run different repair and rebuilding systems depending on the depth of our sleep. It turns out that at least one mechanism – the removal of free radicals (charged particles that are a byproduct of metabolic activity) which are known to be associated with cancer development -requires a deep sleep before our bodies will run the repair and rebuilding program that normalizes this chemical activity. That means that we should sleep in as dark an environment as possible and have heavy drapes that cancel out external ambient light.
All that to say that as beautiful as it is, you should keep the moon out of your bedroom Mark. Or so sayeth the most current sleep and cancer research.
P.S. this is along term affect taking years to develop so you’re fine 😀
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Thanks for sharing the research, Paul. I’m glad the lunar light awakens me only once a blue moon. And I keep the bedroom dark, and most of the house. That’s been my custom since I started paying my own electric bills way back when.
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