title: Are Children Like Werewolves? Full Moon and Its Association with Sleep and Activity Behaviors in an International Sample of Children.
abstract: In order to verify if the full moon is associated with sleep and activity behaviors, we used a 12-country study providing 33,710 24-h accelerometer recordings of sleep and activity. The present observational, cross-sectional study included 5812 children ages 9-11 years from study sites that represented all inhabited continents and wide ranges of human development (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, India, Kenya, Portugal, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States). Three moon phases were used in this analysis: full moon (±4 days; reference), half moon (±5-9 days), and new moon (±10-14 days) from nearest full moon. Nocturnal sleep duration, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and total sedentary time (SED) were monitored over seven consecutive days using a waist-worn accelerometer worn 24 h a day. Only sleep duration was found to significantly differ between moon phases (~5 min/night shorter during full moon compared to new moon). Differences in MVPA, LPA, and SED between moon phases were negligible and non-significant (<2 min/day difference). There was no difference in the associations between study sites. In conclusion, sleep duration was 1% shorter at full moon compared to new moon, while activity behaviors were not significantly associated with the lunar cycle in this global sample of children. Whether this seemingly minimal difference is clinically meaningful is questionable.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute , Ottawa, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chaput
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute , Ottawa, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Madyson
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weippert
authors.affiliation: ParticipACTION , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Allana G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Mads F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hjorth
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Kim F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Michaelsen
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA , USA.
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Katzmarzyk
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute , Ottawa, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Tiago V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Barreira
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA , USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Broyles
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki , Helsinki , Finland.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fogelholm
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA , USA.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: St. Johns Research Institute , Bangalore , India.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuriyan
authors.affiliation: St. Johns Research Institute , Bangalore , India.
authors.forename: Anura
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurpad
authors.affiliation: University of Cape Town , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: Estelle V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA , Australia.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maher
authors.affiliation: University of Porto , Porto , Portugal.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul (CELAFISCS) , Sao Paulo , Brazil.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Matsudo
authors.affiliation: University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA , Australia.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olds
authors.affiliation: Kenyatta University , Nairobi , Kenya.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Onywera
authors.affiliation: Universidad de los Andes , Bogota , Colombia.
authors.forename: Olga L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
authors.affiliation: University of Bath , Bath , UK.
authors.forename: Martyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Standage
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Catrine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tudor-Locke
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Women's and Children's Health Center , Tianjin , China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sjödin
keywords: children; lunar cycle; moon; physical activity; sedentary behavior; sleep