Biorhythms

Biorhythms are theoretical cycles which allegedly dictate health and behavior. The name is evocative of circadian rhythms,File:Wikipedia's W.svg the difference being that circadian rhythms are based on scientific observation, while biorhythms are pure pseudoscience.

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Due to its origins, the theory of biorhythms can be considered a first cousin of numerology.

History

The original theory was dreamed up by Wilhelm Fliess (1858-1928), who played with mathematics and eventually came to the conclusion that everything could be tied back to the numbers 23 and 28. He decided that these referred to bodily cycles, which he dubbed "male" and "female" respectively. Years later, Professor Alfred Teltscher added a third 33-day cycle and renamed the three cycles physical, mental and emotional. Thus, the theory of biorhythms was born.[1]

Elaboration of biorhythmological woo

Since the development of the original theory, many additional cycles have been submitted, including intuitional, aesthetic, spiritual, passion, wisdom, mastery, gullibility, tragedy, comedy and tastiness.[2] However, the vast majority of biorhythm technicians focus on the core cycles: The 23-day physical cycle, the 28-day emotional cycle and the 33-day mental cycle.

It's good when a cycle is above the baseline and bad when it is below the baseline. That is, unless a particular reading looks wrong, in which case it's good when a cycle is moving upward and bad if it's heading downward, regardless of position. Even if you were at a pessimistic period where all cycles were below normal and heading downward, it only happens in rare cases and will quickly rebound after a few days. So basically a biorhythm chart can say anything at all.

As with other charts that use one point of reference (in this case, the date of birth), the same chart can be recycled for other people. After an identical number of days have passed from birth, everyone's biorhythms are the same.

Calculation

Biorhythms have the advantage over birth-chart astrology in that it's much easier to chart somebody's biorhythm than to calculate planetary positions and deduce horoscopes. This makes biorhythms ideal for simple computer applications and websites, and a wide range of software is available, from in-browser javascript to mobile phone apps to open source.[3] In the 1970s, biorhythm calculators were common in public areas in the US (similar to speak your weight or love tester machines) and electronics companies like Casio built biorhythm functionality into portable electronic calculators.[4][5]

Actual "biorythms"

Scientists speak in terms of "biological rhythms," or "chronobiology," distinguishing between ultradian (e.g. 90-minute sleep cycles), circadian (daily), infradian (e.g. monthly) or annual rhythms. There is a journal, Biological Rhythm Research, which covers "any aspect of research into the broad topic of biological rhythms."[6] It began publication as Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research from 1970 to 1993 and changed to the the current name in 1994. It covers topics such as the effect of jet-lag or illness on biological rhythms.

Women, as most people know, experience periodic fluctuations in emotions known fearfully by men as "that time of the month". Some scientists speculate that men may experience similar, though less severe, hormonal cycles as well.[7][8]

gollark: ```print "Hacked with Python 2 or Lua"```
gollark: (produced by the common Unix tool `haxxdump`)
gollark: 011d3b0 ecda fe42 f33d d112 2b8c 7e1d 24d2 11e5011d3c0 2475 ae6a bb0f 0c59 592b 3e75 6074 5f61011d3d0 ff42 a907 c773 c81f 3095 97ba 7fe2 5270011d3e0 c021 d886 1dfc 01eb f22a 0174 38cb ab3e011d3f0 2476 6efa 2bb0 6dde cd92 0222 5467 7221011d400 bb13 2647 77f7 8c51 6206 e40d 3c85 117c011d410 86bb 928f 2234 bb31 298e dd89 7209 6a00011d420 49b1 182b 52fc 6659 f720 c14c 7064 213c011d430 be13 5b7f 36db 9228 232a be39 1c9e 4065011d440 3e92 3fa8 a538 8a60 c599 7c88 9f72 9748011d450 8a5d fc83 b21b e48d 666a 8670 3d61 0225
gollark: I have made many a useless side project.
gollark: I mean, there's a difference between programming and, say, sysadmin stuff, but yes.

References
  1. Biorhythms — Skeptic's Dictionary
  2. Some of those may be fictional.
  3. As of 1 Dec 2016, Google Play store had more than 100 apps and popular download site CNet listed 125 programs.
  4. Convergence VII: Casio Biorhythm Calculator, Retrothing May 2006
  5. See the Wikipedia article on Biorhythm.
  6. Webpage: Biological Rhythm Research
  7. Men's Moods Demystified, Psychology Today (IWBM)
  8. The Male Period
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