Are children like werewolves?: Full moon and its associations with sleep and activity behaviors in an international sample of children

Jean-Philippe Chaput; Madyson Weippert; Allana G Leblanc; Mads Fiil Hjorth; Kim F. Michaelsen; P T Katzmarzyk; Mark S Tremblay; Tiago V Barreira; Stephanie T Broyles; Mikael Fogelholm; Gang Hu; Rebecca Kuriyan; Anura Kurpad; Estelle V Lambert; Carol Maher; Jose Maia; Victor Matsudo; Timothy Olds; Vincent Onywera; Olga L Sarmiento; Martyn Standage; Catrine Tudor-Locke; Anders Mikael Sjödin; Pei Zhao

doi:10.3389/fped.2016.00024

Are children like werewolves? Full moon and its associations with sleep and activity behaviors in an international sample of children

Jean-Philippe Chaput, Madyson Weippert, Allana G Leblanc, Mads Fiil Hjorth, Kim F. Michaelsen, P T Katzmarzyk, Mark S Tremblay, Tiago V Barreira, Stephanie T Broyles, Mikael Fogelholm, Gang Hu, Rebecca Kuriyan, Anura Kurpad, Estelle V Lambert, Carol Maher, Jose Maia, Victor Matsudo, Timothy Olds, Vincent Onywera, Olga L SarmientoMartyn Standage, Catrine Tudor-Locke, Anders Mikael Sjödin, Pei Zhao

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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.

Original language	English
Article number	4
Journal	Frontiers in Pediatrics
Volume	4
Number of pages	6
ISSN	2296-2360
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2016.00024
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2016

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Chaput et al_Frontiers in Pediatrics_2016_Vol 4_Article 24Final published version, 182 KBLicence: CC BY

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Chaput, J-P., Weippert, M., Leblanc, A. G., Hjorth, M. F., Michaelsen, K. F., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Tremblay, M. S., Barreira, T. V., Broyles, S. T., Fogelholm, M., Hu, G., Kuriyan, R., Kurpad, A., Lambert, E. V., Maher, C., Maia, J., Matsudo, V., Olds, T., Onywera, V., ... Zhao, P. (2016). Are children like werewolves? Full moon and its associations with sleep and activity behaviors in an international sample of children. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 4, [4]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2016.00024

Chaput, J-P, Weippert, M, Leblanc, AG, Hjorth, MF , Michaelsen, KF, Katzmarzyk, PT, Tremblay, MS, Barreira, TV, Broyles, ST, Fogelholm, M, Hu, G, Kuriyan, R, Kurpad, A, Lambert, EV, Maher, C, Maia, J, Matsudo, V, Olds, T, Onywera, V, Sarmiento, OL, Standage, M, Tudor-Locke, C, Sjödin, AM & Zhao, P 2016, 'Are children like werewolves? Full moon and its associations with sleep and activity behaviors in an international sample of children', Frontiers in Pediatrics, vol. 4, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2016.00024

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title = "Are children like werewolves?: Full moon and its associations 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.",

author = "Jean-Philippe Chaput and Madyson Weippert and Leblanc, {Allana G} and Hjorth, {Mads Fiil} and Michaelsen, {Kim F.} and Katzmarzyk, {P T} and Tremblay, {Mark S} and Barreira, {Tiago V} and Broyles, {Stephanie T} and Mikael Fogelholm and Gang Hu and Rebecca Kuriyan and Anura Kurpad and Lambert, {Estelle V} and Carol Maher and Jose Maia and Victor Matsudo and Timothy Olds and Vincent Onywera and Sarmiento, {Olga L} and Martyn Standage and Catrine Tudor-Locke and Sj{\"o}din, {Anders Mikael} and Pei Zhao",

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AU - Chaput, Jean-Philippe

AU - Weippert, Madyson

AU - Leblanc, Allana G

AU - Hjorth, Mads Fiil

AU - Michaelsen, Kim F.

AU - Katzmarzyk, P T

AU - Tremblay, Mark S

AU - Barreira, Tiago V

AU - Broyles, Stephanie T

AU - Fogelholm, Mikael

AU - Hu, Gang

AU - Kuriyan, Rebecca

AU - Kurpad, Anura

AU - Lambert, Estelle V

AU - Maher, Carol

AU - Maia, Jose

AU - Matsudo, Victor

AU - Olds, Timothy

AU - Onywera, Vincent

AU - Sarmiento, Olga L

AU - Standage, Martyn

AU - Tudor-Locke, Catrine

AU - Sjödin, Anders Mikael

AU - Zhao, Pei

N1 - CURIS 2016 NEXS 102

PY - 2016/3/1

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.3389/fped.2016.00024

DO - 10.3389/fped.2016.00024

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27047907

SN - 2296-2360

VL - 4

JO - Frontiers in Pediatrics

JF - Frontiers in Pediatrics

M1 - 4

ER -

Are children like werewolves? Full moon and its associations with sleep and activity behaviors in an international sample of children

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