Study of Heart Rate Variability related to the Solar and Geomagnetic Environment
This study was recently published in the ‘Scientific Reports’ section of ‘Nature’. Nature is a British multidisciplinary scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869.
This long-term study examined relationships between solar and magnetic factors and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses to changes in solar and geomagnetic activity.
The impact of nature on our well-being
Heart rate variability was recorded for 72 consecutive hours each week over a five-month period in 16 participants in order to examine ANS responses during normal background environmental periods.
Heart rate variability (HRV), which is the measurement of beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, is used as an indicator of ANS function and dynamics. Use of HRV has substantially increased in recent decades in research and clinical treatment applications
Overall, the study confirms that daily ANS activity responds to changes in geomagnetic and solar activity during periods of normal undisturbed activity and it is initiated at different times after the changes in the various environmental factors and persist over varying time periods.
Increase in solar wind intensity was correlated with increases in heart rate, which we interpret as a biological stress response. Increase in cosmic rays, solar radio flux, and Schumann resonance power was all associated with increased HRV and parasympathetic activity. The findings support the hypothesis that energetic environmental phenomena affect psychophysical processes that can affect people in different ways depending on their sensitivity, health status and capacity for self-regulation.
It appears that sharp or sudden variations in geomagnetic and solar activity as well as geomagnetic storms can act as stressors, which alter regulatory processes such as melatonin/serotonin balance, blood pressure, breathing, reproductive, immune, neurological, and cardiac system processes.
Geomagnetic disturbances are associated with significant increases in hospital admissions for depression, mental disorders, psychiatric admission, suicide attempts, homicides and traffic accidents. Disturbed geomagnetic activity can also exacerbate existing diseases and is correlated with significant increases in cardiac arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, incidence of myocardial infarction related death, alterations in blood flow, increased blood pressure, and epileptic seizures.
HeartMath
This study was initiated by the HeartMath Institute, and if you are interested to learn more about the tools and techniques that we offer, I suggest you to visit this page on my website. I also offer a playlist of short heart coherence meditations – they will help you to create more resilience in your own life, without being affected too much by the external forces around our planet.
Source: Nature Magazine