K, so, for whatever reason, this decade has been popular for articles from seemingly scientific sources saying that geomagnetic storms are causing negative health effects on the body, through magnetic field fluctuations. I looked it up…and during the most extreme geomagnetic storms, Earth’s magnetic field fluctuates at a rate of about 500 nanotesla per minute. Is that rate of change enough to induce enough of a current that it acts as a cellular stressor?
edit: I was reading through a Reddit thread earlier where ER staff mentioned how during geomagnetic storms the ER is unusually busy and how their hospital is considering installing magnetic field detecting devices so they can plan accordingly…?
Hey OP, I looked through the paper you linked in another comment (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0660-0) I am unsure if you know but you can access the full thing through Scihub. Look at 2d and h, and look at the error bars around these lines. According to this data maybe it increases risk, but almost just as likely it decreases risk. I think we can be quick to dismiss things that don’t fit into our current scientific understanding. If you’re asking this purely because you are curious and want to know, the answer could be: maybe? It’s hard to really say there are so many other variables ans the effect is clearly quite minor. The authors offer some potential meganisms in their discussion.
If you’re asking because you are concernes for your health, or someone is trying to sell you something, the only reasonable answer is no. As the paper says temperature and pressure give way more signifcant effects, are you going to live in a controlled atmosphere the rest of your life, or control this in some other way? And consider as others have mentioned the mri machine, it gives a way stronger magnetic signal, and hospitals use it on people that already have bad hearts. If there was really an effect doctors all over the world would have noticed don’t you think?