Biorhythm

This article is about the pseudoscientific beliefs. For the scientific study of biological cycles, see Chronobiology.

Biorhythm chart over the first 66-day period after birth:
    Physical     Emotional     Intellectual

A biorhythm (from Greek βίος - bios, "life" and ῥυθμός - rhuthmos, "any regular recurring motion, rhythm") is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. Most scientists believe that the idea has no more predictive power than chance and consider the concept an example of pseudoscience.

Theory

Basic rhythm details

---

• Physical cycle
  • 23 days; Circavigintan
  • coordination
  • strength
  • well-being
• Emotional cycle
  • 28 days; Circatrigintan
  • creativity
  • sensitivity
  • mood
  • perception
  • awareness
• Intellectual cycle
  • 33 days; Circatrigintan
  • alertness
  • analytical functioning
  • logical analysis
  • memory or recall
  • communication

According to the theory of biorhythms, a person's life is influenced by rhythmic biological cycles that affect his or her ability in various domains, such as mental, physical and emotional activity. These cycles begin at birth and oscillate in a steady (sine wave) fashion throughout life, and by modeling them mathematically, it is suggested that a person's level of ability in each of these domains can be predicted from day to day. The theory is built on the idea that the biofeedback chemical and hormonal secretion functions within the body could show a sinusoidal behavior over time.

Most biorhythm models use three cycles: a 23-day physical cycle, a 28-day emotional cycle, and a 33-day intellectual cycle. Although the 28-day cycle is the same length as the average woman's menstrual cycle and was originally described as a "female" cycle (see below), the two are not necessarily in any particular synchronization. Each of these cycles varies between high and low extremes sinusoidally, with days where the cycle crosses the zero line described as "critical days" of greater risk or uncertainty.

In addition to the three popular cycles, various other cycles have been proposed, based on linear combination of the three, or on longer or shorter rhythms.

Calculation

Theories published state the equations for the cycles as:

• physical: $\sin(2\pi t/23)$,
• emotional: $\sin(2\pi t/28)$,
• intellectual: $\sin(2\pi t/33)$,

where $t$ indicates the number of days since birth. Basic arithmetic shows that the simpler 23- and 28-day cycles repeats every 644 days (or 1-3/4 years), while the triple 23-, 28-, and 33-day cycles repeats every 21,252 days (or 58.2+ years).

The biorhythm model remains somewhat beyond somatic or psychic facts:

• There is yet no proof of a stable phase relation between the rhythms off date of birth nor of the frequency of the rhythms.
• There is also no evident metrics defined that shows the highs or lows of the oscillations.

History

The notion of periodic cycles in human fortunes is ancient; for instance, it is found in natal astrology and in folk beliefs about "lucky days". The 23- and 28-day rhythms used by biorhythmists, however, were first devised in the late 19th century by Wilhelm Fliess, a Berlin physician and patient of Sigmund Freud. Fliess believed that he observed regularities at 23- and 28-day intervals in a number of phenomena, including births and deaths. He labeled the 23-day rhythm "male" and the 28-day rhythm "female", matching the menstrual cycle.

In 1904, psychology professor Hermann Swoboda claimed to have independently discovered the same cycles. Later, Alfred Teltscher, professor of engineering at the University of Innsbruck, came to the conclusion that his students' good and bad days followed a rhythmic pattern of 33 days. Teltscher believed that the brain's ability to absorb, mental ability, and alertness ran in 33-day cycles. One of the first academic researchers of biorhythms was also Estonian-born Nikolai Pärna, who published a book in German called Rhythm, Life and Creation in 1923.

The practice of consulting biorhythms was popularized in the 1970s by a series of books by Bernard Gittelson, including Biorhythm — A Personal Science, Biorhythm Charts of the Famous and Infamous, and Biorhythm Sports Forecasting. Gittelson's company, Biorhythm Computers, Inc., made a business selling personal biorhythm charts and calculators, but his ability to predict sporting events was not substantiated.

Charting biorhythms for personal use was popular in the United States during the 1970s; many places (especially video arcades and amusement areas) had a biorhythm machine that provided charts upon entry of date of birth. Biorhythm charts were common in newspapers, usually found with horoscopes, at the time as well. Biorhythm programs were a common application on personal computers; and in the late 1970s, there were also handheld biorhythm calculators on the market, the Kosmos 1 and the Casio Biolator. Though biorhythms have declined in popularity, there are numerous websites on the Internet that offer free biorhythm readings. In addition, there exist free and proprietary software programs that offer more advanced charting and analysis capabilities.

Plausibility

There have been some three dozen studies supporting biorhythm theory, but all of them have suffered from methodological and statistical errors. An examination of some 134 biorhythm studies found that the theory is not valid.

Supporters continued defending the theory after Terence Hines's review of 134 studies, causing other scientists to consider the field as pseudoscience:

An examination of some 134 biorhythm studies found that the theory is not valid (Hines, 1998). It is empirically testable and has been shown to be false. Terence Hines believes that this fact implies that biorhythm theory 'can not be properly termed a pseudoscientific theory'. However, when the advocates of an empirically testable theory refuse to give up the theory in the face of overwhelming evidence against it, it seems reasonable to call the theory pseudoscientific. For, in fact, the adherents to such a theory have declared by their behaviour that there is nothing that could falsify it, yet they continue to claim the theory is scientific. (from Carroll's "The Skeptic's Dictionary")

The physiologist Gordon Stein in the book Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) has written:

Both the theoretical underpinning and the practical scientific verification of biorhythm theory are lacking. Without those, biorhythms became just another pseudoscientific claim that people are willing to accept without required evidence. Those pushing biorhythm calculators and books on a gullible public are guilty of making fraudulent claims. They are hoaxers of the public if they know what they are saying has no factual justification.

See also

• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Astrology
• Bioelectricity
• Fortune-telling

Further reading

Books

• Aschoff, Jurgen (ed.), Biological Rhythms (Handbooks of Behavioral Neurobiology). 1981.
• Bartel, Pauline C., "Biorhythm: discovering your natural ups and downs", An Impact book. ISBN 0-531-01355-3
• Bentley, Evie, Awareness: biorhythms, sleep, and dreaming. ISBN 0-415-18872-5
• Crawley, Jacyntha, The Biorhythm Kit, UK: ISBN 1-85906-032-3, London Biorhythm Company Limited.
• Edlund, Matthew. Psychological time and mental illness. 1987. ISBN 0-89876-122-0
• Evans, James R., (ed.) and Manfred Clynes (ed.), Rhythm in psychological, linguistic, and musical processes. ISBN 0-398-05235-2
• Gittelson, Bernard, Biorhythm: A Personal Science, Futura Publications. 1976 ISBN 0-86007-361-0
• Hodgkins, Zerrin Biomatch Z. 1998. ISBN 0-9531983-0-8
• Lapointe, Fernand, Biorythmie: comment prâevoir vos bons et mauvais jours. ISBN 0-88566-029-3
• Louis, Arthur M., Journalism and Other Atrocities. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4538-1520-5
• Roche, James, Biorhythms at your fingertips. ISBN 0-7137-1562-6
• Thommen, George S., Is This Your Day. 1973. ISBN 0-517-00742-8
• Debarbieux, Patrick, l'ABC des biorythmes. 1999. ISBN 2-7339-0615-1

Research publications

Biorhythmics

• Hines, T.M., "Comprehensive review of biorhythm theory". Psychology Department, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY. Psychol Rep. 1998 Aug;83(1):19–64. (ed. concluded that biorhythm theory is not valid.)
• D'Andrea, V.J., D.R. Black, and N.G. Stayrook, "Relation of the Fliess-Swoboda Biorhythm Theory to suicide occurrence". J Nerv Ment Dis. 1984 Aug;172(8):490–4. (ed. concluded that there was a validity to biorhythm when the innovative methods of the study are put to use.)
• Laxenaire M., and O. Laurent, "What is the current thinking on the biorhythm theory?" Ann Med Psychol (Paris). 1983 Apr;141(4):425–9. [French] (ed. Biorhythm theory is disregarded by the medical world though it has achieved a bit of fame with the public)
• Wolcott, J.H., R.R. McMeekin, R.E. Burgin, and R.E. Yanowitch, "Correlation of general aviation accidents with the biorhythm theory". Hum Factors. 1977 Jun;19(3):283–93.
• Khalil, T.M., and C.N. Kurucz, "The influence of 'biorhythm' on accident occurrence and performance". Ergonomics. 1977 Jul;20(4):389–98.
• "Biorhythm in gynecology--a renaissance of Fliess' theory of periodicity?". Arch Gynecol. 1979 20 July;228(1-4):642. [German]
• Nijsten, M.W., and S.E. Willemsen, "Accidents a matter of chance? The significance of lunar phases and biorhythms in trauma patients". Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 1991 21 December;135(51):2421–4. [Dutch] (ed. 'critical' biorhythm days were not found to increase the number of accidents experienced by subjects.)

Chronobiology related

• Hastings, Michael, "The brain, circadian rhythms, and clock genes". Clinical review. BMJ 1998;317:1704–1707 19 December.
• 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
• Ashikari, M., Higuchi, S., Ishikawa, F., and Tsunetsugu, Y., "Interdisciplinary Symposium on 'Human Beings and Environments': Approaches from Biological Anthropology, Social Anthropology and Developmental Psychology". 25 August 2002
• "Biorhythm experiment management plan", NASA, Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, 1983.
• "Biological Rhythms and Human Adaptation to the Environment". US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (AMRMC), US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
• Ebert, D., K.P. Ebmeier, T. Rechlin, and W.P. Kaschka, "Biological Rhythms and Behavior", Advances in Biological Psychiatry. ISSN 0378-7354

External links

Biorhythms at DMOZ