Cited by 26Sleep and related disordersCircadian rhythm and melatoninSleep and Wakefulness Research

Effects of lunar phase on sleep in men and women in Surrey

Della Monica, Ciro, Atzori, Giuseppe, Dijk, Derk‐Jan·2015·Journal of Sleep Research

Abstract

Summary: Recently, evidence has emerged that the phases of the moon may modulate subjective sleep quality and polysomnographically assessed sleep structure in humans. We aimed to explore further the putative effects of circa‐lunar periodicity (~29.5 days) on subjective and objective parameters of human sleep in a retrospective analysis. The baseline sleep recordings of 205 (91 males and 114 females; mean age = 47.47 years, standard deviation =19.01; range: 20–84 years) healthy and carefully screened participants who participated in two clinical trials in the Surrey Clinical Research Centre were included in the analyses. Sleep was recorded in windowless sleep laboratories. For each study night, we calculated the distance, in days, to the date of the closest full moon phase and based on this distance, classified sleep records in three lunar classes. Univariate analysis of variance with factors lunar class, age and sex was applied to each of 21 sleep parameters. No significant main effect for the factor lunar class was observed for any of the objective sleep parameters and subjective sleep quality but some significant interactions were observed. The interaction between lunar class and sex was significant for total sleep time, Stage 4 sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Separate analyses for men and women indicated that in women total sleep time, Stage 4 sleep and REM sleep were reduced when sleep occurred close to full moon, whereas in men REM duration increased around full moon. These data provide limited evidence for an effect of lunar phase on human sleep.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/jsr.12312

Cites

22 of 22 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Recent reports of lunar month variation of total sleep time in healthy individuals seem consistent with the finding of lunar month variation in onsets of mania.

    “In this regard, recent reports of lunar month variation of total sleep time in healthy individuals seem consistent with the finding of lunar month variation in onsets of mania”

    From Bipolar mood cycles and lunar tidal cycles (2018) · cites this paper as [39]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Della Monica, C., Atzori, G., & Dijk, D.
Affiliations
  • Surrey Sleep Research Centre University of Surrey Guildford UK
  • University of Surrey (GB)
Corresponding author
Dijk, Derk‐Jan
Venue
Journal of Sleep Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015-06-12
Volume
24
Issue
6
Pages
687-694
ISSN
  • 0962-1105 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2869
OpenAlex
W1923210387
Cited by
26
References
22
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3
FWCI
5.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Sleep Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wolfson-Royal Society Research
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords
lunar phases, full moon, sleep, sex differences, REM sleep, stage 4 sleep, total sleep time, subjective sleep quality, sleep architecture
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Clinical Trials as Topic, England, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Periodicity, Retrospective Studies, Sleep, Sleep, REM, Moon, Polysomnography, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review