What is a biorhythm?

Biorhythm theory is an idea that suggests that our everyday life is affected by rhythmic cycles. Traditionally supporters of the biorhythm theory identified three major cycles. These are the 23-day physical cycle, the 28-day emotional cycle, and the 33-day intellectual cycle. However, several other cycles have been added to the theory ever since.

Biorhythm – Historical Background

The Biorhythm theory was first developed by Wilhelm Fliess in the second half of the 19th century. Later the idea became popular in the United States in the 1970s.

According to the traditional biorhythm theory the three rhythmic biological cycles can influence human beings’ mental, physical, as well as emotional activity.

The biorhythm theory suggests that all these cycles begin at birth and steadily oscillate throughout our entire lives. According to the biorhythm theory, the level of ability in each of these three domains is predictable and can be calculated.

Wilhelm Fliess was a physician in Berlin and he was also one of Sigmund Freud‘s patients. He was the first one to introduce the 23-day and 28-day rhythmic cycles in the late 19th century.

According to Wilhelm Fliess, certain regularities and patterns could be observed at 23-day and 28-day intervals (these regularities included births and deaths).

When he first described the cycles Fliess named the 23-day rhythmic cycle “male” and the 28-day rhythmic cycle “female” (the latter named so because it matched the period between a woman’s menstrual cycles).

Further contributions to the theory were made by a psychology professor from Vienna called Hermann Swoboda. Later a professor of engineering called Alfred Teltscher, who worked at the University of Innsbruck, suggested that the university students’ performance was affected by these rhythmic patterns. Alfred Teltscher claimed that the 33-day cycle affected the human brain’s ability to absorb information and to be alert.

In the second half of the 20th century, it became popular to consult biorhythm charts. A company called Biorhythm Computers Inc. made a business out of selling biorhythm charts and even biorhythm calculators claiming they could predict various events, including sporting events.
In the 1970s many arcades and amusement areas in the United States had various machines that could presumably chart your biorhythm cycles once you typed in your date of birth.

How to read Biorhythms

Reading biorhythm charts is not that hard at all. There are various biorhythm calculators you can find online and many of them are rather affordable.

To perform the calculation you have to enter the day, month, and year of your birth into appropriate boxes. If you want to receive a more accurate reading, you can also enter the time of your birth (provided you remember it). Some calculators also require you to type in the time zone of the country where you were born.

And that’s pretty much it; click on the ‘calculate’ button and you will be presented with the chart of your biorhythm cycles. The majority of the calculators will present you with your biorhythm cycles in the form of a line chart. These line charts will show your biorhythms for a given day, week, etc.

A basic chart will consist of three differently colored lines (so that you can differentiate between the various cycles). In most cases the red line will be indicative of your physical cycle, the color green is representative of your emotional cycle, and the blue line represents your intellectual ability. Next, try locating the midpoint line on your chart. You want your cycle line to be above this midpoint. If it is above the midpoint then you are on a positive streak, on the other hand, if your cycle lines are below the midpoint then it is presumed that you are on a negative downswing.

Also, when consulting your chart pay attention to critical days. If you can see that two or more lines are below the midpoint you’ll need to take extra care of your emotional well-being as well as your body, since this might be a stressful time in your life and it might cause you to feel emotionally drained and physically overwhelmed.

To be more precise, the biorhythm readings represented with graphical curves usually have a horizontal line that represents time (most commonly days) and a vertical line that represents the reading for that time. These readings are usually presented in percentages and these percentages can be either negative, positive, or zero.

The maximum reading is +100%, and the minimum reading is -100%, whereas the reading of zero is considered to be the middle reading.

If you want to read your physical biorhythm, for example, you should find the corresponding colored line and look at the biorhythm graph to locate today’s date; then read the vertical indicator (which will be between +100% and -100%).

Do the same for intellectual biorhythm and emotional biorhythm. I am sure that all of this will be quite easy for you.

So what should you do after you have interpreted your biorhythms and identified your current state?

Well, it is entirely up to you how you react. Some people refuse to even leave their house if all of their biorhythm lines are showing -100%. However, others prefer to see these negative indicators merely as a warning sign and they spend more time on self-care during that period.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that biorhythm cycles are not there to predict specific life events. For example, you may well fall ill even if your physical cycle is at +100% plus, but it is believed that if this event had occurred on a day where your physical cycle is in the negative numbers it would have been more severe.

Another noteworthy thing is the day upon which your lines cross the zero mark. These days are interpreted as transitional ones and it is believed that they may be somewhat more chaotic.

Traditional and new biorhythm cycles

You are probably wondering what each of these cycles regulates.
It is believed that the physical cycle regulates sex drive, strength, metabolic rate, stamina, hand and eye coordination, as well as initiative.

The emotional cycle is believed to regulate nerves, creativity, affection, and mood.

And, last but not least, the intellectual cycle regulates reasoning, alertness, logic, concentration, power of deduction, sense of direction, decision-making, and memory.

In addition to monitoring your physical, emotional, and intellectual biorhythm cycles, you can monitor or some other cycles as well.
Additional biorhythm cycles include passion, wisdom, mastery, etc. So let’s have a look at what they monitor.

The passion cycle, for instance, may help you monitor how motivated you are to make decisions and how driven you are to continue pursuing something difficult. Monitoring your passion cycle may also reveal the best days to commence working on some demanding projects.

Another one is the mastery cycle. Keep track of it to find out How successful you might be at performing tasks and achieving your goals. Monitoring this cycle may also reveal the best days to push yourself to the maximum to acquire new skills.

The wisdom cycle combines emotional and intellectual cycles and it may show you the best days to make important decisions. This cycle might also reveal the time when are your senses are heightened and you are more aware of the things going on around you.

Intuition is another one you might want to monitor as it might act as a sixth sense of sorts. If you want to know the best days to trust your gut then you might want to keep an eye on this cycle. The intuition cycle is influenced by your relaxation and harmony cycles. If you want to find out what these are just keep reading.

The harmony cycle monitors the environment that surrounds you and how you feel about yourself. Your most harmonious days could be spent interacting with other people, reflecting on your path in life, or even taking a job interview.

The relaxation cycle obviously monitors how relaxed your attitude is, as well as your inner stability. Keep an eye on this cycle so that you know which day is the best to cope with stressful situations.

The teamwork cycle shows you how capable you are of performing in a team, and it might also reveal the best days to start collaborating on a new project with colleagues.

The balance cycle sums up the primary cycles of two individuals and compares them to each other. It might be used to determine the daily compatibility level between your partner and yourself.

And, last but not least, is their romance cycle. You may keep an eye on this cycle to find the best days to go out on a date, spend some romantic time with a partner, or do something romantic in general.

If you want to check your biorhythm, you should visit this link: The Biorhythm.