Big congrats to my friend and labmate Leandro @hachadorada for this beautiful work! Turns out sleep timing and duration follow the phases of the moon! Leandro studied indigenous communities with limited access to artificial light and found they went to bed later and slept (1/n) https://twitter.com/HoracioIglesia/status/1354509569955827712

less on nights leading up to the full moon. The same was true for communities living in rural and semi-urban conditions.

Leandro wondered whether sleep was also altered by the moon cycle for people living in more industrialized conditions, so he looked to actimetry data (2/n)

from over 500 college students at the University of Washington in Seattle collected by @gideondunster. Turns out these students showed the same modulation of sleep according to the moon phase! The light pollution from the city of Seattle was stronger than the brightest (3/n)

moonlit night, suggesting the effect may be due to something other than synchronization of sleep cycles by light. Congrats also to @Spiousas @gideondunster and @kmcglothlen for a super cool story! (4/4)