A systematic review of heliobiological studies of the last 25 years devoted to the study of the potential influence of space weather factors on human health and well-being was carried out. We proposed three criteria (coordinates), according to which the work on solar–biospheric relations was systematized: the time scale of data sampling (years, days, hours, minutes); the level of organization of the biological system under study (population, group, individual, body system); and the degree of system response (norm, adaptation, failure of adaptation (illness), disaster (death)). This systematic review demonstrates that three parameters mentioned above are closely related in the existing heliobiological studies: the larger the selected time scale, the higher the level of estimated biological system organization and the stronger the potential response degree is. The long-term studies are devoted to the possible influence of solar activity on population disasters, i.e., significant increases in morbidity and mortality. On a daily scale, a probable effect of geomagnetic storms and other space weather events on short-term local outbreaks of morbidity is shown as well as on cases of deterioration in people functional state. On an intraday scale, in the regular functioning mode, the heart and brain rhythms of healthy people turn to be synchronized with geomagnetic field variations in some frequency ranges, which apparently is the necessary organism’s existence element. The applicability of different space weather indices at different data sampling rates, the need to take into account the contribution of meteorological factors, and the prospects for an individual approach in heliobiology are discussed. The modern important results of experiments on modeling the action of magnetic storms in laboratory conditions and the substantiation of possible theoreical mechanisms are described. These results provide an experimental and theoretical basis for studies of possible connections of space weather and human health.

Fifty-seven experiments have been conducted to monitor the minute indicators of heart rate at rest in 38 practically healthy individuals (9 men and 29 women) from 18 to 58 years old. The duration of each observation period is 60 to 200 min. We have measured the heart rate and the minute-averaged cardiac section durations reflecting the passage of electrical excitation over different parts of myocardium. A comparison of the dynamics of minute values of these physiological parameters with variations of the X and Z components of the geomagnetic field has shown that two-thirds of experiments revealed the synchronization of oscillations in the heart rate and variations in the components of the geomagnetic field. We have revealed both the matching of the observed periods of oscillations ranging between 4 and 30 min and an approximate synchronicity in the times of their appearance and disappearance.

The influence of weather factors (atmospheric pressure and temperature) and the geomagnetic activity on the development of severe cardiological pathologies has been studied using the daily data from two Moscow clinics, accumulated over a period of 12 and 7 years. It was shown that the most biotropic factors are variations of atmospheric temperature. The relative contribution of the geomagnetic activity to the development of diseases is only 20%; however, its action is combined with the effect of ordinary weather because both these factors affect the vascular tonus of humans.

The temporal structure and dynamics of biological rhythms were formed in the course of evolution under the influence of environmental factors. Circadian rhythm as a central one in biological objects developed in response to daily luminosity and temperature rhythms related to rotation of the Earth. New causative factors that could be involved in this process and affect the entire spectrum of biological rhythms emerged with the advent of space research. The discovery of solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, and Earth’s magnetosphere revealed similar periodicity of biological rhythms and magnetic factors which suggests possible participation of the latter in the formation of the former. Disturbances in magnetic rhythms may lead to desynchronization of biological processes by the adaptive stress mechanism as exemplified by circadian rhythm disorders in response to jetlag. This hypothesis forwarded by the authors in the 1990s was confirmed by further investigations including those reported by foreign researchers.