Superposed epoch analysis of physiological fluctuations: possible space weather connections

James Wanliss, Germaine G Cornelissen-Guillaume, Franz Halberg, Denzel Brown, Brien Washington

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is a strong connection between space weather and fluctuations in technological systems. Some studies also suggest a statistical connection between space weather and subsequent fluctuations in the physiology of living creatures. This connection, however, has remained controversial and difficult to demonstrate. Here we present support for a response of human physiology to forcing from the explosive onset of the largest of space weather events—space storms. We consider a case study with over 16 years of high temporal resolution measurements of human blood pressure (systolic, diastolic) and heart rate variability to search for associations with space weather. We find no statistically significant change in human blood pressure but a statistically significant drop in heart rate during the main phase of space storms. Our empirical findings shed light on how human physiology may respond to exogenous space weather forcing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)449-457
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Biometeorology
Volume62
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, ISB.

Keywords

  • Blood pressure
  • Chronobiology
  • Geomagnetic
  • Heart rate
  • Magnetic storms
  • Physiology
  • Space storms
  • Space weather

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Superposed epoch analysis of physiological fluctuations: possible space weather connections'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this