Biorhythm

A biorhythm (or biological rhythm) is a cyclic pattern of alterations in physiology, emotions, and intellect. "Bio" pertains to life and "rhythm" pertains to the flow with regular movement.

Table of contents

1 Theory 1.1 Related terminology 1.2 Plausibility 1.3 History 2 See also 3 External links, References, and Resources

Theory

The theory of biorhythms claims one's lifecycle is affected by rhythmic cycles and makes approximate predictions of cycles of physical, mental and emotional characteristics. A rhythm or a cycle is a characteristic that is periodically repeated in a predictable and measurable way. Biorhythmics is composed of forecasting the synchronized rhythm by division into equal parts by time in one's life cycle. These inherent rhythms are said to control or initiate various biological processes and are classically composed of three cyclic rhythms that are said to govern human behaviour and the innate periodicity in natural cyclical physiological change. In its simplest general form, the theory states that from birth to death every human is governed by internal biophysical cycles: the physical, the emotional, and the intellectual. Others state there are more rhythms than the basic three. Biorythyms are related to bioelectricity and its interaction in the body.

Basic rhythms include certain facets of physiological cycles, though it may include others and the details may vary pending the specific source. The three classical cycles of Biorhythms are endogenous infradian rhythms.

Basic rhythm details:

Physical cycle (lasts around 23 days)

- coordination

- strength

- well-being

Emotional cycle (lasts around 28 days)

- creativity

- sensitivity

- mood

- perception

- awareness

Intellectual cycle (lasts around 33 days)

- alertness

- analytical functioning

- logical analysis

- memory or recall

- communication

The theory's basis lies in physiological and emotional cycles. The cycles are drawn as sinusoidal waveforms. This is a graphical approximate representation of the bioelectric activity. The cycle flow of bioelectric activity undergoes periodic reverses in direction. Since biorhythms are a continuous bidirectional rhythmic cycle of bioelectricity it can be represented as a symmetrical or asymmetrical (though most theories rely on a symmetrical form). A waveform is just a visual representation of the cycle's forecast. The waveforms start, in most theories, with their minimum values at the birth of each individual [neutral baseline (0%)]. Each cycles oscillates between a positive phase (<= 100%) and a negative phase (>= -100%), during which bioelectric activity strengthens and weakens. The purpose of biorhythms is to enable the approximate calculation of critical days for performing or avoiding various activities.

The classical definition (deriveratives of the original theory exist) states that one's birth is an unfavorable circumstantial event, as is the day about 58 years later when the three cycles are again synchronised at their minimum values. According to the classical definition, the theory is assumed to apply only to humans. In the classical theory, the value of each cycle can be calculated at any given time in the life of an individual, and there are web sites that do exactly that.

Related terminology

Biorhythmics is a branch of science that study biorhythms or deal with biorhythms. Biorhythmic study focuses on physiological, emotional, and intellectual processes and its forecasting. Biorhythm phenomena are observable human conditions which can be detailed and explained by the science of biorhythmics. These conditions are bound by the variables that exist in the body. Certain facets of biorhythmics are similar to concepts found in weather forecasting (commonly known as meteorology).

Infradian are biorhythms composed of long-term cycles (lasting several days).

Circadian are the biorhythms having a period of 24 hours (lasting a day).

Ultradian are the biorhythms having extremely short cycles (lasting less than 24 hours).

Exogenous are cycles influenced by external factors.

Endogenous are cycles not influenced by external changes.

Circatrigintan are cycles that recur every month (around 25-35 days).

Circavigintan are cycles that recur triweekly (around 17-23 days).

Circadiseptan are cyles that occur biweeklly (around 12-17 days).

Plausibility

Biorhythmics is an established interdisciplinary area of scientific endeavor, but is still speculative in many facets. Biorhythms are based upon the study of biological organisms (in particular, the study of human behavior and physiology). Biorhythmics' plausibility is contested (vehemently, sometimes).

Biorhythms have echoes of chronobiology, the study of circadian and other rhythms. Through medical research, doctors have found that there are periodicity and rhythms during a person's lifespan, although few doctors believe they correspond to those described as "biorhythms". Biochronometry has shown that rhythm and cycles such as the circadian (from the Latin circa and dia; literally, "about a day") exist. These discoveries, among others, have shown that people are affected by physiological, emotional and intellectual rhythms (thouigh the exact relationships to the biorhythm cycles are not precisely understood). Studies in this (some say, self-described) protoscience are still being done regarding the effects of biorhythm on the human condition.

The theory is sometimes treated as falsely claiming scientific validity. Biorhythm critic responses range from opposing it as harmful through ignoring it to accepting it as entertainment. Some biorhythm critics raise one or more of the following criticisms for the various theories that fall under the category of Biorhythmics:

• Arbitrary assumption of sinusoidal cycles,
• Arbitrary assumption of a neutral baseline,
• Inadequate quantitative generalizations of complex human behavior,
• Non-precise formulations of existing theories,
• Peer review failures of experimetntal data,
• Replication failures, and
• Some unscrupulous practitioners resemblance to the professional fortune-telling fraud artists

History

The classical theory originated at the turn of the 19th century, between 1897 and 1902, from observational research.

Dr. Hermann Swoboda into the possibility of a rhythmic change in mood and health. (Professor of Psychology, University of Vienna) on periodic variations in fevers. He collected data on reaction to pain, outbreak of fevers, illnesses, asthma, heart attacks, and recurrent dreams. He concluded that there was a 23-day physical cycle and a 28-day emotional cycle.

Dr. Wilhelm Fliess (nose and throat specialist; reportedly a numerologist) independently was researching the occurrences of fevers, recurrent illnesses and deaths in his patients. He too came to the conclusion that there was a 23 and a 28-day rhythm. Fleiss's theories were of great interest and importance to Sigmund Freud during his early work in developing his psychoanalytic concepts.

Alfred Teltseher (professor of engineering; University of Innsbruck, Austria) observed that his students' good days and bad days followed a rhythmic pattern of 33 days. Teltscher found that the brain's ability to absorb, mental ability,and alertness ran in 33 day cycles. Dr. Rexford Hersey (psychologist; Pennsylvania, America) in the 1920s reportedly made contributions to the classical theory also.

These three biorhythms compose the classical theory. The classical theory has been studied, especially in Germany, Japan, and the United States, with conflicting results. Various modern deriviatives exist of the classical theory.

See also

List of protosciences

• Protoscience
• Bioelectricity
• Chronobiology

List of speculative or fringe theories

• Pseudoscience
• New Age
• Fortune-telling

External links, References, and Resources

General

• Circadian Rhythms Hub. Reviewed and categorized links.
• U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, "Biological Rhythms: Implications for the Worker". U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1991. Washington, DC. OTA-BA-463. NTIS PB92-117589
• Hastings, Michael, "The brain, circadian rhythms, and clock genes". Clinical review. BMJ 1998;317:1704-1707 19 December.
• "Biorhythms & Group Dynamics". The North Crossing.
• Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms. Not-for-profit international organization (founded 1988)
• Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (founded 1987) : publishes the Journal of Biological Rhythms ( ISSN 0748-7304 )
• Dr. Shigekazu Higuchi, Dr. Yuko Tsunetsugu, Ms. Fumiko Ishikawa, Dr. Mikiko Ashikari, "Interdisciplinary Symposium on 'Human Beings and Environments': Approaches from Biological Anthropology, Social Anthropology and Developmental Psychology". Sunday, 25th August, 2002.
• Cognitive & Biological Psychology. Simon Fraser University.
• Ebert, D., K.P. Ebmeier, T. Rechlin, and W.P. Kaschka, "Biological Rhythms and Behavior", Advances in Biological Psychiatry. ISSN 0378-7354
• "Biological Rhythms and Human Adaptation to the Environment". US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (AMRMC), US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
• Field, Moffett. "Biorhythm experiment management plan", NASA, Ames Research Center. 1983.

Books

• Thommen, George S., "Is This Your Day" (1973) ISBN 0517007428
• Edlund, Matthew. "Psychological time and mental illness". 1987. ISBN 0898761220
• Lapointe, Fernand, "Biorythmie : comment prâevoir vos bons et mauvais jours". ISBN 0885660293
• Roche, James, "Biorhythms at your fingertips". ISBN 0713715626
• Bartel, Pauline C., "Biorhythm : discovering your natural ups and downs", An Impact book. ISBN 0531013553
• Bentley, Evie, "Awareness : biorhythms, sleep, and dreaming". ISBN 0415188725
• Evans, James R., (ed.) and Manfred Clynes (ed.), "Rhythm in psychological, linguistic, and musical processes". ISBN 0398052352

Crtics

• Gardner, Martin. "Science: Good, Bad and Bogus", Fliess, Freud, and Biorhythm. . CH. 11. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. 1981. ISBN 0879755733

Calculators

• Biorhythm calculator [Krstarica.com]
• Biorhythm calculator [Perbang.dk]
• Biorhythm calculator [GypsyMagick.com] (Java applet)