Viele Lebewesen auf unserem Planeten können das Erdmagnetfeld spüren, warum nicht auch Menschen – denkt Oleg Shumilov vom “Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems” in Russland. Er hat nun Aufzeichnungen der Veränderungen am Erdmagnetfeld von 1948 bis 1997  beobachtet und festgestellt, dass diese in drei Gruppen mit saisonbedingten Höchstwerten eingeteilt werden können. Da wären die Zeiträume März bis Mai, Juli und Oktober. Er fand erstaunliche Korellationen zwischen den Höchstwerten bei Suizidfällen in der russischen Stadt Kirovsk in genau diesen Zeiträumen. Und er war hier nicht der einzige Wissenschaftler, der Hinweise auf Zusammenhänge zwischen Magnetfelder und die menschliche Gesundheit fand.

13:39 24 April 2008
Quelle: NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic

Does the Earth’s magnetic field cause suicides?

Many animals can sense the Earth’s magnetic field, so why not people, asks Oleg Shumilov of the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems in Russia. Shumilov looked at activity in the Earth’s geomagnetic field from 1948 to 1997 and found that it grouped into three seasonal peaks every year: one from March to May, another in July and the last in October.

Surprisingly, he also found that the geomagnetism peaks matched up with peaks in the number of suicides in the northern Russian city of Kirovsk over the same period.

Shumilov acknowledges that a correlation like this does not necessarily mean there is a causal link, but he points out that there have been several other studies suggesting a link between human health and geomagnetism. For example, a 2006 review of research on cardiovascular health and disturbances in the geomagnetic field in the journal Surveys in Geophysics (DOI: 10.1007/s10712-006-9010-7) concluded that a link was possible and that the effects seemed to be more pronounced at high latitudes.

Twinned peaks

The review’s author, Michael Rycroft, formerly head of the European Geosciences Society, says that geomagnetic health problems affect 10 to 15% of the population. “Others have found similar things [to Shumilov's results] in independent sets of data,” says Rycroft. “It suggests something may be linking the two factors.” A 2006 Australian study, for example, also found a correlation between peaks in suicide numbers and geomagnetic activity (Bioelectromagnetics, vol. 27 p 155).

Brain storms

Psychiatrists too have noticed a correlation between geomagnetic activity and suicide rates. A review of 13 years of South African data on suicides and magnetic storms in South African Psychiatry Review, vol. 6 p. 24) suggested a link. Geomagnetic storms – periods of high geomagnetic activity caused by large solar flares – have also been linked to clinical depression. In 1994, a study was published suggesting a 36.2% increase in the number of men admitted into hospital for depression in the second week after geomagnetic storms (British Journal of Psychiatry vol 164, p 403). What may be the cause of the link, if there is one, remains unknown. “The intriguing correlation between geomagnetism and suicide justifies more research into its mechanism,” says Rycroft.

Fortsetzung folgt…