Long-Term Study of the Synchronization Effect between Geomagnetic Field Variations and Minute-Scale Heart-Rate Oscillations in Healthy People

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of human heart-rate synchronization with variations in the geomagnetic field (GMF) (“biogeophysical synchronization effect”). We analyzed 403 electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings of 100 or 120 min that were obtained in 2012–2023 from two middle-aged female volunteers in good health. The minute-value series of the GMF vector from the INTERMAGNET network was used. Each ECG recording was individually examined using cross-correlation and wavelet analysis. The findings from two separate experimental sets (306 recordings from Volunteer A and 97 from Volunteer B) displayed notable similarity in all aspects analyzed: (1) For both participants, the biogeophysical synchronization effect is observed in 40–53% of the recordings as a statistically significant (p < 0.0045) correlation between minute heart-rate (HR) time-series values and at least one of the horizontal components of the GMF, with a time shift between values of [−5, +5] min. (2) Wavelet analysis indicates that the spectra of the HR series and at least one GMF component exhibit similarity in 58–61% of cases. (3) The synchronization is most evident within the period range between 8–13 min. The probability of the synchronization effect manifestation was independent of the geomagnetic activity (GMA) level, which was recorded during the observations.

Keywords

• heliobiology
• cardiovascular system
• geomagnetic field
• heart rate
• biogeophysical synchronization
• space-weather factors