Sun May Determine Lifespan At Birth: Study

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere (I searched).
Aside from some noted holes in the scope of the study...as well as atrocious spelling errors in the article (I corrected several), I thought this was an interesting study worth sharing for discussion.

Perhaps, as a possible stretch, this might also reflect back (in some respects) to the practice of using personal horoscopes as a life-predictor.

Paris (AFP) - Could the Sun be your lucky -- or unlucky -- star?

In an unusual study published Wednesday, Norwegian scientists said people born during periods of solar calm may live longer, as much as five years on average, than those who enter the world when the Sun is feisty.

The team overlaid demographic data of Norwegians born between 1676 and 1878 with observations of the Sun.

The lifespan of those born in periods of solar maximum -- interludes marked by powerful flares and geomagnetic storms -- was "5.2 years shorter" on average than those born during a solar minimum, they found.

"Solar activity at birth decreased the probability of survival to adulthood," thus truncating average lifespan, according to the paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

There was a stronger effect on girls than boys, it said.

The Sun has cycles that last 11 years, give or take, from one period of greatest activity or solar maximum, to the next.

Solar maxima are marked by an increase in sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections that can disrupt radio communications and electrical power on Earth, damage satellites and disturb navigational equipment.

Solar activity is also linked to levels of ultraviolet radiation-- an environmental stressor known to affect survival and reproductive performance, possibly by causing cell and DNA damage, according to the study authors.

- Fertility reduced -

The team, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technologybased their study on demographic data from church records of some 8,600 individuals from two different mid-Norwegian populations, one poor and one wealthy.

This was matched to maps of historical solar cycles.

On top of lifespan, being born in a solar maximum period also "significantly reduced" fertility for women born into the poor category, but not for wealthier women or for men, said the authors.

"We show for the first time that not only infant survival and thus lifespan but also fertility is statistically associated with solar activity at birth," they wrote.

It was not clear whether the same would necessarily hold true for people born in the modern era.

One explanation could be ultraviolet-induced degradation of the B vitamin folate, a shortage of which before birth has been linked to higher rates of illness and death, the team theorised.

"Our findings suggest that maternal exposure to solar activity during gestation can affect the fitness of female children," the authors wrote.

"The effect of socio-economic status on the relationship between solar activity and fertility suggests that high-status pregnant women were better able to avoid the adverse effects of high solar activity" -- possibly by staying out of the Sun or because a healthier diet curbed the harm.

The team did not have data about how early or late into a solar maximum event the children were born -- a limitation of the study.

And they could not fully distinguish between pre- or post-natal exposure to ultraviolet light.

Further investigation is needed, they said, to test whether the results were repeated in people of different skin colours, and those living at different latitudes.

"This study is the first to emphasize the importance of UVR (ultraviolet radiation) in early life," the authors said.

"UVR is a global stressor with potential ecological impacts and the future levels of UVR are expected to increase due to climate change and variation in atmospheric ozone."

news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=AwrSyCN8cq1UuCMAJ5vQtDMD

a reply to: IAMTAT

As the human body and brain are ran and controlled by electrical impulses it is possible that solar maxims and minimums could have an effect.
I would still say more research needs to be done in this area though, because there are way to many unknown variables in this study.

Well, I was born in 55 and I have a problem with Folate in my methylation cycle. 55 was a solar minimum time. But there is a reduction in many enzymes and the folate reduction kind of balances it to give me acceptable health. My condition may not be common though. This gene correction may not have anything to do with the solar cycle.

To correct this problem I drink coffee, it is a good methyl donor. Hell of an excuse to justify drinking coffee isn't it.

I would add that though the sun and people seem unrelated (aside from the sun enabling all life as we know it), there may well be unknown connections between us and Sol.

We simply don't know enough, yet, to be definitive.

ETA but I was pleased to see my birth time was at a noted "minimum" of activity... but wonder if folks born during the Maunder Minimum in the 1600's are still with us... heh

I was born in 1978, solar cycle 21 began in 1976, technically I was born at the time of solar minimum, yet I had fertility issues when I was younger...irregular periods, lack of ovulation.

So either I buck the trend, or perhaps my problems just weren't solar related, good to know I might have a few more miles on the clock if there is a correlation.

Interesting piece

a reply to: Baddogma

I would add that though the sun and people seem unrelated (aside from the sun enabling all life as we know it), there may well be unknown connections between us and Sol.

Being born in the summer or winter has effect on mice too, and so maybe also on humans.

Depressed by birth season

Biological clock of mice born in the winter is less stable

Google Translate

a reply to: IAMTAT

I read once that everything living on this planet that ingests, and uses oxygen could never live forever, because technically we are slowly but surely burning, oxidizing, kinda like putting massive amounts of heat and oxygen to steel to melt it away, same sort of thing. Maybe that has something to do with it?

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
a reply to: Baddogma

I would add that though the sun and people seem unrelated (aside from the sun enabling all life as we know it), there may well be unknown connections between us and Sol.

Being born in the summer or winter has effect on mice too, and so maybe also on humans.

Depressed by birth season

Biological clock of mice born in the winter is less stable

Google Translate

Those born in winter, or in a harsh climate have been proven that they are more likely to get a later in life on set disease.
The biggest one is diabetes, due to something called the thrifty gene.

Apparently the sun was at its solar maxima when I was born. I can't say I'm disappointed about that.

Though in reference to the post above this I was also born only about a week after the summer solstice.

originally posted by: strongfp
a reply to: IAMTAT

I read once that everything living on this planet that ingests, and uses oxygen could never live forever, because technically we are slowly but surely burning, oxidizing, kinda like putting massive amounts of heat and oxygen to steel to melt it away, same sort of thing. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Hmm this makes sense. I wonder if changing this somehow or controlling it could lengthen lifespans.

Interesting. I was born on the 10th year of the solar cycle, I have a b12 deficiency but no fertility issues. My grandmother was born the 1st year of the solar cycle, she's 93, still alive and kickin it. My math should be correct.

a reply to: rickymouse

You don't type a day over 40...

a reply to: IAMTAT
Not to sound annoying, but correlation does not equal causation. Too many uncontrolled variables to take into account to make assumptions based on data from that period. Not to mention data gathering methods for those time periods were very poor and unreliable.

a reply to: IAMTAT

F&S& ....There's more too:

Geomagnetic Disturbances Cause Heart Attacks and Strokes

Increasing or decreasing lifespan by 5 yrs is inconsequential. Immortality would be of consequence.

They had a plague and the Great Northern War in the early 1700's. Studying 8,000 some lives in Norway in a two hundred year period? Must be a Norwegian thing with the sun. A real study would compare different time periods, different countries.

So...can someone post a link to a place I can search my birth year and find out about what phase the sun was in at that time?
....or I am just slow and missing it.

I'd be interested in seeing if any of the affects mentioned in the article have affected me.

Ty....in advance to whoever posts it (I'm lazy this morning...lol)

a reply to: Jakal26

Check out these charts. Some cover a few decades, some go as far as 400 years. Theres a good one that goes back to the 60s that was within the 1st 5 or 10 on the list that may help you but without knowing your birthdate I was not sure which chart to post, thus the image search. If its a solar cycle, or sunspot chart, thats what you need. I think they are both the same thing...

www.bing.com...