Jul 30 2009

Depressed by Solar Storms? No Wonder

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

In my last two posts, I explored the potential for a severe geomagnetic solar storm to wreak havoc with electrical grids and modern life throughout much of the world.

If you think reading about such scenarios is depressing, consider this: merely being exposed to a moderate geomagnetic storm can increase your chances of depression and even suicide.

It might not surprise you to learn that homing pigeons lose their way when blasts of highly charged particles from the sun disrupt the earth's natural magnetic field. But humans are apparently also sensitive to magnetic fields, possibly through influences on the pineal gland (which regulates production of melatonin) or even through subtle changes in cell membrane chemistry.

A much-cited paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry reported "a statistically significant 36.2% increase in male hospital admissions with a diagnosis of depressed phase, manic-depressive illness in the second week following such storms compared with geomagnetically quiet control periods." And studies published in the South African Psychiatry Review and Bioelectromagnetics found significant correlations between geomagnetic storm activity and suicide rates in South Africa and Australia. 

In 2003, economists at Boston College and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta reported "strong empirical support" for the hypothesis that "people affected by geomagnetic storms may be more inclined to sell stocks on stormy days because they incorrectly attribute their bad mood to negative economic prospects rather than bad environmental conditions." High levels of geomagnetic activity appear to depress stock prices, while periods of quiet activity lead to "substantially higher returns around the world," they found.

None of this comes as any surprise to Russians, a people notoriously given to depression. According to a feature in Moscow News, Russians are obsessed with the notion that their mental and bodily ills stem from geomagnetic storms: 

Millions of people keep track of its changes every morning, experts offer suggestions on minimizing its detrimental effects: rest, eat lots of bananas, don't make sudden movements. . . . Just like the weather, geomagnetic activity is often a suitable topic for chit-chat on the shuttle bus, or for a conversation between two babushkas on a park bench. Yet it's an issue of vital importance, with daily prognoses, recommendations, and warnings. Every now and then all the media outlets start screaming about giant explosions on the sun, about dangerous solar particles approaching Earth at fantastic speeds that cause "aching joints, migraines, plane crashes, epidemics, and grasshopper infestations," as Lenta.Ru recently reported in sensationalist fear.

One Russian scientist, Alexander Chizhevsky, claimed that political upheavals in his country tend to take place most often during periods of peak solar activity. As evidence, he cited the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the peak of Soviet political persecutions (1937), the Hungarian revolt (1956), the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia (1968) and Afghanistan (1979) and mass demonstrations and perestroika (1989).

If the CIA is on the ball, it's already working on a report--based on the timing of the next solar maximum--titled, "Political Turmoil in Russia Predicted for 2013."

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