Lunar Phases Effects On Short-term, Explosive Physical Performance Among Young Trained Athletes

Abstract

Beliefs in lunar effect on human physiology and behavior started back in ancient times. Outcomes recently revealed that (i) aggressive behavior increased around full moon (FM), and (ii) a physical fitness index increased in sedentary students at new moon (NM) and FM compared to other moon phases. This has been attributed to the alteration of cardiovascular parameters (i.e., heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) which were affected by the gravitational pull of the moon. However, there was no attention on the effect of lunar cycle (moon illumination and Gravitational pull) on physical performance in athletes. PURPOSE: to evaluate whether short-term explosive performance can be influenced by the different phases of lunar cycle. METHODS: Methods: Fourteen young male taekwondo athletes (Age: 16.9±0.7years, Height: 159.7±50.6 cm, Body Mass: 62.85±7.84 kg, Body Fat: 10.9±4.7) performed: squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), and 10-m sprint tests to assess explosive physical performance during the different phases of the lunar cycle (NM, FQ (First Quarter), FM, and LQ (Last Quarter). The testing sessions at the different moon phases were performed in a counterbalanced order. Tests’ order was kept the same (SJ, CMJ, then 10-m sprint) and all sessions were performed at evening times (6:00 to 8:00 p.m.) on the first day of each concerned lunar phase. Each parameter was measured over two consecutive lunar months in the calendar (April and May 2016). Astronomical data (lunar phases) were acquired from the United States Naval Observatory astronomical applications department data services (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/). RESULTS: ANOVA showed that there was no significant lunar cycle effect for all explosive tests measures F(3, 93)=1.834; p>0.05; ηp2=0.124. CONCLUSIONS: Moon phases did not affect evening explosive performances (mainly phosphagens’ pathway based efforts) among young trained athletes. Therefore, it seems that moon phase/illumination do not have an effect on short term physical performance in young trained adolescents. Future studies may evaluate whether High Intensity (predominance of the “glycolytic pathway” in addition to the “phosphagen’s pathway”) and Endurance (predominance of “oxidative phosphorylation”), performances would be affected by lunar cycle in athletes.