The effect of cosmic ray intensity variations and geomagnetic disturbances on the physiological state of aviators

Abstract

Over the last few years various researches have reached the conclusion that cosmic ray variations and ge- omagnetic disturbances are related to the condition of the human physiological state. In this study medical data re- garding 4018 Slovak aviators were analyzed in relation to daily variations of cosmic ray and geomagnetic activity. Specifically daily data concerning mean values of heart rate which were registered during the medical examinations of the Slovak aviators, were related to daily variations of cos- mic ray intensity, as measured by the Neutron Monitor Sta- tion on Lomnicky Stit (http://neutronmonitor.ta3.sk/realtime. php3) and the high resolution neutron monitor database (http://www.nmdb.eu) and daily variations of Dst and Ap ge- omagnetic indices. All subjects were men in good health of age 18 60 yrs. This particular study refers to the time period from 1 January 1994 till 31 December 2002. Statistical meth- ods were applied to establish a statistical significance of the effect of geomagnetic activity levels and cosmic ray inten- sity variations on the aforementioned physiological param- eters for the whole group. The Pearson r-coefficients were calculated and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method was applied to establish the statistical significance levels (p- values) of the effect of geomagnetic activity and cosmic ray intensity variations on heart rate up to three days before and three days after the respective events. Results show that there is an underlying effect of geomagnetic activity and cosmic ray intensity variations on the cardiovascular functionality.