ArticleScience advances2025
Synchronization of women's menstruation with the Moon has decreased but remains detectable when gravitational pull is strong.
Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Proof of concept for a hypothesis that rapid cycling in a circular form of bipolar disorder is a pathological response to normal lunar cycles in sleep.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Evolutionary and physiological arguments for the existence of a circalunar clock in humans.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- The Circadian-Light-Hygiene Hypothesis: A Potential Modulator of Fertility and Birthrate Trends.Biology · 2026Review
- Lunar gravity predicts sleep timing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Global trends in human birth and death seasonality reveal climate-related shifts in reproductive timing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To increase reproductive success, many species synchronize reproductive behavior with a particular phase of the lunar cycle. The human menstrual cycle has also a period close to that of the lunar cycle, and recent studies suggest a temporary synchrony between menstrual and lunar cycles. Nevertheless, lunar influence on human reproductive behavior remains controversial. Here, we analyzed long-term menstrual records of individual women from the past 24 years and compared them with records from the past century. We show that women's menstrual cycles recorded before the introduction of light-emitting diodes in 2010 and the extensive use of smart phones significantly synchronized with the Moon, while those after 2010 coupled to the Moon mostly in January. We hypothesize that the high gravimetric forces between the Moon, Sun, and Earth every January are sufficient for this coupling, while the increasing exposure to artificial light at night impinges on synchrony at other times.
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Registered trials
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