WellSpring Practice Guides

Biorythm

Many human functions follow a natural pattern of behaviour, from waking and sleeping in a 24 hour period, to the female menstrual cycle of 28 days. Biorhythm theory uses scientific methods to chart rhythms that affect the internal functioning of the body, particularly the physical, emotional and intellectual abilities.

Biorhythm theory originated with research by two doctors in the early 20 th century, both working independently of each other. Dr Hermann Swoboda, a psychologist at the University of Vienna, monitored his patient’s emotional moods, dreams and physical symptoms over long periods. He noted in particular that asthma attacks recurred in a regular cycle and concluded that there were two distinct cycles of 23 and 28 days, which he termed ‘physical’ and ‘emotional’ respectively. Wilhelm Fleiss, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Berlin was also interested in biological cycles through analysis of his patient’s medical records. His knowledge of numerology together with his record analysis led him to the conclusion that the numbers 23 and 28 had significance to many bodily functions. He described the two cycles as ‘solar’ (masculine) at 23 days and ‘lunar’ (feminine) at 28 days. The combined work of Swoboda and Fleiss was developed further in the 1920’s by an Austrian mathematician and engineer, Alfred Teltscher. He studied the intellectual rhythms of his students and found a 33 day cycle which he called the ‘intellectual’ cycle. Further work has revealed other cycles, namely a 38 day intuitive cycle, a 43 day aesthetic cycle and a 53 day spiritual cycle.

In Biorhythm theory, the 3 main cycles of 23, 28 and 33 days are charted from birth, starting at zero. When illustrated as a graph, the three cycles rise from zero to a high point, descend back to the zero line and then fall correspondingly to a low point and back again to zero. As each cycle is a different length, they intersect each other occasionally. On the days when one or more of the cycles crosses the zero line, it is considered to be a ‘critical’ day when that particular cyclical functioning is low and the person can be prone to accidents or negative events.Biorhythm charts are easily charted using computer software technology. It is used to assess when the optimum physical, emotional or intellectual peak is for a person and to be aware of the ‘critical’ times when some tasks may prove to be more difficult.

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