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What if …. the Moon provides zeitgeber signals to humans?

Molecular Psychiatry volume 25, pages 2646–2647 (2020)Cite this article

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Folk wisdom suggests the Moon can impact human biology, in particular that related to mental health. While lunar cycles co-determine temporal biology of many organisms, questions remain concerning influence on humans [1,2,3]. In a remarkable piece of investigative science wherein individual rather than bulk data was considered, Wehr’s analyses of rapid cycling bipolar disorder in 17 patients revealed potential synchronicity of mood cycles with lunar signals and suggestion that circadian rhythm may be implicated or affected [4]. Such observations, if not falsified, could impact disease understanding and chronobiology.

If lunar periods influence human chronobiology, key questions that arise include: (i) Could moon-associated signals contribute to answering a long-standing question; namely, why do circadian rhythms approximate cycles longer than 24 h under (supposedly) ‘free-running’ conditions? In other words, could moon-associated signals act as zeitgebers? (ii) Could lunar period synchrony with mood cycles have implications for the causation, course, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of bipolar disorder?

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  1. Institute and Policlinic for Occupational Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Prevention Research, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Thomas C. Erren, Sabine Schmiedehausen, J. Valérie Groß & Philip Lewis

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  1. Thomas C. Erren
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  2. Sabine Schmiedehausen
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Correspondence to Philip Lewis.

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Erren, T.C., Schmiedehausen, S., Groß, J.V. et al. What if …. the Moon provides zeitgeber signals to humans?. Mol Psychiatry 25, 2646–2647 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0216-0

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