Environmental cue?

“The most plausible explanation for the association between geomagnetic activity and depression and suicide is that geomagnetic storms can desynchronise circadian rhythms and melatonin production,” says Kelly Posner, a psychiatrist at Columbia University in the US. The pineal gland, which regulates circadian rhythm and melatonin production, is sensitive to magnetic fields. “The circadian regulatory system depends upon repeated environmental cues to [synchronise] internal clocks,” says Posner. “Magnetic fields may be one of these environmental cues.” Geomagnetic storms could disrupt body clocks, precipitating seasonal affective disorder and therefore increase suicide risk, Posner told New Scientist. There seems little doubt that the brain responds to electromagnetic fields – coils that generate electromagnetic fields can trigger muscular twitches when placed over a person’s skull.

However, Shumilov, who was presenting his data at the European Geoscience Union (EGU) annual meeting in Vienna, Austria, last week, does not believe geomagnetic activity influences everyone equally.

Suicide statistics

He also presented hospital data from 6000 pregnant women who had routine scans of their fetus’s heart rates between 1995 and 2003. In 15% of the fetuses, periods of disturbances in their heart rates coincided with periods of high geomagnetic activity. Shumilov accepts that light levels in northern countries can influence depression, but believes that geomagnetism may be another factor, and one that is under-appreciated. The trouble with studying the causes of suicide is that it is a rare condition, says Klaus Ebmeier, a psychiatrist at the University of Oxford. “You are bound to get spurious effects. A study of the causes would have to enrol a country’s entire population.” Cosmo Hallstrom, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, agrees. “You have to be very careful with suicide statistics,” he says. “Countries report them differently. Catholic countries are very reluctant to diagnose suicide. Scandinavian countries consider it a social injustice not to”

Was uns noch zu einem kleinen Zitat aus  “Die Prophezeiungen der Maya” von Gilbert und Cotterell führt, was natürlich auch sehr gut hier her passt. Wenn man bedenkt, dass jede Änderung im Magnetfeld der Sonne auch eine Änderung im Erdmagnetfeld nach sich zieht (Man lese dazu Dr. Theodor Landscheidt “Sun, Earth, Man: A Mesh of Cosmic Oscillations“). Im Vorwort zu lesen bei Gilbert und Cotterell:

„Das überwältigende an dieser Arbeit: So, wie niemand längere Zeit direkt in die Sonne blicken kann, ohne zu erblinden, kann sich auch niemand länger mit Sonnenzyklen befassen, ohne zu erkennen, wie blind wir auf dem Planeten Erde den Realitäten, die unsere Existenz beherrschen, gegenüberstehen. Erschreckend hingegen ist die These einfach wegen unserer Unwissenheit.“

Und das NEXUS Magazin schrieb: „NASA-Studien und offizielle Publikationen zeigen: Im gesamten Sonnensystem findet derzeit ein nie dagewesener Wandel statt.“ – „Das gesamte Sonnensystem – und damit alle Planeten und die Sonne – erfährt eine nie dagewesene physikalische Veränderung.“

(Zwei Überschriften zu einem außerordentlich aufschlussreichen Artikel NEXUS 16 /2008)