In 2025, there were more geomagnetically disturbed days than calm ones — a record for the decade. Yet there's still no definitive answer: do magnetic storms genuinely affect health, or is it mass suggestion?
The topic splits the scientific community into two camps. Some researchers find a statistically significant link between geomagnetic activity and a rise in heart attacks. Others point out that most "weather-sensitive" people feel equally terrible during a storm and on a day when they were merely told about one — even if it never happened. The truth, as is often the case, lies somewhere in between.
What a Magnetic Storm Actually Is
The Sun constantly ejects a stream of charged particles — the solar wind. Normally, Earth's magnetic field deflects it. But when a powerful solar flare or coronal mass ejection occurs, a concentrated burst of plasma hurtles toward Earth. It compresses and distorts the magnetosphere — the planet's protective shell.
That distortion is a magnetic storm. It lasts from several hours to several days. Scientists classify storms on a five-point scale — from a mild G1 to an extreme G5. G1–G2 events happen dozens of times a year. A G5 comes once every few decades.
At Earth's surface, a magnetic storm manifests weakly: fluctuations in the magnetic field amount to fractions of a percent of its normal value. But that's enough to disrupt satellites, trigger the Northern Lights at unusual latitudes — and, in the view of some scientists, affect how people feel.
What Science Says in Favor
The most convincing data concerns the cardiovascular system. Several large studies found a correlation between geomagnetic activity and the number of emergency calls for heart attacks, strokes, and hypertensive crises. The increase is modest — within 10–15% on days of strong storms — but statistically significant.
The proposed mechanism: magnetic disturbances affect the autonomic nervous system, which regulates vascular tone and heart rhythm. A shift toward sympathetic activation means a faster pulse, narrower blood vessels, and rising blood pressure.
For a healthy person, this goes unnoticed. For a patient with coronary artery disease or unstable angina, it can be the last straw.
Other studies have recorded a drop in melatonin production — the hormone that regulates sleep — on storm days. Hence the insomnia, the feeling of being wrecked, the daytime drowsiness.
What Science Says Against
Skeptics raise several problems.
First, correlation is not causation. Magnetic storms coincide with shifts in atmospheric pressure, temperature changes, and daylight variations. Methodologically separating the influence of the magnetic field from the influence of weather is extremely difficult.
Second, the nocebo effect. Studies show that people warned about an incoming magnetic storm report feeling worse more often — even if the storm never materialized. Storm forecasts in news feeds and messaging apps effectively program a portion of the audience to feel unwell.
Third, magnetic field fluctuations during a storm are negligible compared to everyday sources. The magnetic field from a smartphone held to your temple or from a metro train beneath your feet is thousands of times stronger than geomagnetic disturbances.
If the body reacts to fractions-of-a-percent fluctuations — why doesn't it react to the magnet in your headphone driver?
Why Some People Feel It and Others Don't
Even among scientists who acknowledge the influence of magnetic storms, there's one point of consensus: most healthy people don't feel them at all. The ones who react fall mainly into three groups.
- People With Chronic Cardiovascular Conditions
Their blood pressure and vascular tone regulation systems are already operating at capacity. Any additional factor — whether a magnetic storm, a sudden weather change, or stress — can trigger a flare-up.
- People With Heightened Anxiety or Neurotic Disorders
They respond not so much to the storm itself as to information about it. They read the forecast, start listening to their body, and find symptoms. This isn't faking — anxiety genuinely produces headaches, rapid heartbeat, and insomnia. But the trigger isn't outer space — it's their own expectation.
- Elderly People
With age, adaptive mechanisms weaken, and the body handles any external fluctuation less well — geomagnetic, barometric, or temperature-related.
Genetics also plays a role. Research suggests that predisposition to weather sensitivity is inherited, although the specific genes haven't been identified yet.
What to Do on Magnetic Storm Days
If you're in a risk group, the recommendations are straightforward and overlap with general advice for weather-sensitive individuals.
- Don't skip your medications. Antihypertensives, antiarrhythmics, anticoagulants — all on schedule.
- Reduce physical exertion. An intense workout on a day with a strong storm is additional stress on the heart.
- Get enough sleep. Melatonin is already suppressed — don't make it worse with sleep deprivation.
- Limit coffee and alcohol. Both affect vascular tone and can amplify symptoms.
- Stop reading magnetic storm forecasts. Seriously. If you're prone to anxiety, information about an approaching storm will do more harm than the storm itself.
What's Happening in 2026
According to the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute, the peak of the current 11-year solar cycle has already passed. The number of geomagnetically disturbed days in 2026 is gradually declining compared to the record-setting 2025. But that doesn't mean storms are over — powerful flares are possible even on the cycle's downslope.
The next solar activity minimum is expected around 2030–2031. By then, magnetic storms will become rarer and weaker. In the meantime, it's worth remembering: a magnetic storm isn't an illness — it's an external factor that a healthy body weathers without noticing. If every storm puts you in bed, the issue most likely isn't the Sun — it's something worth getting checked out.
