Sleepless night, the moon is bright: longitudinal study of lunar phase and sleep

Roosli, M; Juni, P; Braun-Fahrlander, C; Brinkhof, MW; Low, N; Egger, M (2006). Sleepless night, the moon is bright: longitudinal study of lunar phase and sleep. Journal of sleep research, 15(2), 149-53.. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2006.00520.x

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Popular belief holds that the lunar cycle affects human physiology, behaviour and health. We examined the influence of moon phase on sleep duration in a secondary analysis of a feasibility study of mobile telephone base stations and sleep quality. We studied 31 volunteers (18 women and 13 men, mean age 50 years) from a suburban area of Switzerland longitudinally over 6 weeks, including two full moons. Subjective sleep duration was calculated from sleep diary data. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression models with random effects. Mean sleep duration was 6 h 49 min. Subjective sleep duration varied with the lunar cycle, from 6 h 41 min at full moon to 7 h 00 min at new moon (P < 0.001). Average sleep duration was shortened by 68 min during the week compared with weekends (P < 0.001). Men slept 17 min longer than women (P < 0.001) and sleep duration decreased with age (P < 0.001). There was also evidence that rating of fatigue in the morning was associated with moon phase, with more tiredness (P = 0.027) at full moon. The study was designed for other purposes and the association between lunar cycle and sleep duration will need to be confirmed in further studies.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)
UniBE Contributor:	Röösli, Martin, Jüni, Peter, Brinkhof, Martin, Low, Nicola, Egger, Matthias
ISSN:	0962-1105
ISBN:	16704569
Publisher:	Blackwell Scientific Publications
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:48
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:15
Publisher DOI:	10.1111/j.1365-2869.2006.00520.x
PubMed ID:	16704569
Web of Science ID:	000237599500006
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/20075 (FactScience: 3193)