Biorhythm: do you believe in it?

[Zeltaris]

I think most of us have heard about this... "theory", right?

Basically, it states that humans go through 23/28 day long cycles concerning the physical, emotional and intellectual aspects and that these cycles determine our moods and how we do stuff.

But should we really believe this?
I'd love to know what you think. Personally, I don't really agree with it

Post 500. w00t!! :)

[Battlecruiser]

I think most of us have heard about this... "theory", right?

Basically, it states that humans go through 23/28 day long cycles concerning the physical, emotional and intellectual aspects and that these cycles determine our moods and how we do stuff.

But should we really believe this?
I'd love to know what you think. Personally, I don't really agree with it

Post 500. w00t!! :)
Hmm... Never heard of this before, and I don't believe this theory right now, though it is possible. We all have cycles in life, and this could be possibly one. Not sure, I might see if this is true for myself.

[hammocksleeper]

There'sa lot of different things involved, you need to be more clear.

[Cygnus]

We already have certain functions programmed into us, just ask any woman. But what happens to our moods and how we act is deteremined, as mentioned above, by a lot more than just what our bodies are telling us to do. Interactions between your enviroment and other organism cause you to alter your actions and feelings.

[EdvardMunch]

I think this is what you're talking about: "Scientists" who claim that they can predict, solely on the basis of time and date of your birth, how your mood, alertness, and physical performance can fluctate over time. They could then use this information to predict on which days you will be super-productive and on which other days you will be more likely to get into an accident.

Well, my psychology book informs me that this is total nonsense. Humans do have various cycles (sleep-wake cycle, men and women's hormonal cycles) but this set-in-stone biorhythm cycle certainly isn't one of them. For one thing, the biorhythm cycle seems impenetrable to outside influence. Things like the sleep-wake cycle adjust to brightness and darkness and release appropriate amounts of melatonin in response. If a biorhythm cycle is so predictable then either A: it cannot be effected by any abnormal health conditions (like a sleep deficit, something millions of Americans have, diseases or malnutrition) B: can be affected by abnormal health conditions, which makes mapping one's biorhythm just using time and date worthless anyway.

PS: I was originally gonna write something about sleep deficit, but it was incoherent so I scrapped it. Nonetheless, this is an interesting fact I found regarding sleep deficit: "In a nation-wide study of motor vehicle accidents occurring between 1986 and 1995, psychologist Stanley Coren (1998) studied the effects of the single hour of lost sleep that many Americans experience when they set their clocks forward every spring. The result? A 17% increase in traffic deaths on the Mondays following the time changes (compared with the Mondays before)."

http://www.psychologymatters.org/sleep.html

[Battlecruiser]

Oh wait, I didn't think this Biorhythm would be so specific. That means I retract my statement of this theory being true in my belief. I thought it would have to do with your harmones having cycles of 23 days, which would make this theory very true, but if that is not the case, then forget it.

[EdvardMunch]

Well, I'm not sure if that's Zeltaris is talking about. My psychology book talks about "Biorhythmic charts", which seem like they would be biorhythms. Then again, biorhythm isn't a very specific term. Biological Rhythms are biorhythms, and certainly circadian rhythms (cycles that take longer than a day to execute, like hormonal cycles), infradian rhythms (cycles that take a day to execute, like the slee-wake cycle) and ultradian rhythms (cycles that can execute in less than a day, like the 60-90 minute sleep cycle) can be considered biological rhythms.

Zeltaris, are you talking about biological rhythms in general, or a very specific rhythm (namely, the one I talked about in my post above?)?

[Killphill]

Seems pretty stupid if you ask me... Sooner or later you'd catch on to your cycle and be like "oh day 14, gonna be pissed off today".