Software.RhythmRight
Last updated on Sun May 11, 2008 |

Biorhythms, first observed and researched starting at the end of the 1800's, are classically said to be regular physical, emotional, and intellectual cycles biologically inherent in all human beings. Starting from the day you're born, the physical cycle is believed to repeat every 23 days, the emotional cycle every 28 days, and the intellectual cycle every 33 days. Typically, biorhythms are plotted on a graph like the one below:

The physical (red), emotional (green), and intellectual (blue) cycles as graphed starting from the day you were born and plotted for one full cycle.

On the day that you're born, all three cycles are set to 0. From there, they begin their upward ascent toward their positive peak. Having reached the positive peak, they begin their downward return to the 0 starting point. Dipping down below 0, the cycles continue until they've reached their negative low point. Finally, each cycle begins ascending again until it returns to 0. Put another way, you can break the cycles up into four quarters where the first quarter is spent in the positive phase moving up, the second quarter is also spent in the positive phase but moving down, the third quarter is a descent through the negative phase, and the fourth quarter is still in the negative phase but moving up again.

When a cycle is in the positive phase of the graph (above 0), it's thought to be in its prime energy; conversely, when a cycle is in the negative phase of the graph (below 0), it is thought to be recuperating. Generally, interpretations suggest that during the "positive" portions of the cycle you're physically, emotionally, and intellectually at your best while you're not quite at the top of your game during the "negative" portions. The specific details on what it means to be "at your best" or "recuperating" vary somewhat from source to source.

In the interpretation of biorhythms, special attention is paid to "Critical" days—those days when a cycle crosses the 0 point. When two cycles cross the 0 point in a single day, the day is called "Double Critical," and when all three cycles cross the 0 point, the day is called "Triple Critical." Because the cycle shifts from the positive to the negative phase of the graph (or vice versa) on critical days, they are said to be days when the various energies ruled by the particular cycle are in flux and less predictable. People are thought to be more accident prone, for example, on critical days. Similarly, some interpretations also make mention of "Mini Critical" days. These are the days when the cycle switches from an upward to a downward direction (or vice versa). For example, a "Mini Critical" or "Caution" day would be met when a cycle has just reached it's highest peak and now begins descending back down toward the 0 point.

Biorhythms and their interpretations go far beyond this very brief summary. Some biorhythm advocates also point to other cycles beyond the original three mentioned here, some suggest additional significant days beyond the Critical ones listed above, and some go into great detail about exactly what can be expected at each day in the cycles. Without a doubt, there are many ways to consider and work with biorhythms.

On a final note, I think it's very important to point out that biorhythms are not considered to be a scientific fact by the mainstream scientific community. Although some research suggests that biorhythms point to real biological cycles, an equal amount of research has disproven these claims. I leave it up to you to decide whether you believe biorhythms reflect a fact of human biology or not. The biorhythm compatibility tool provided on this website is made available simply for entertainment purposes, and its existence here does not in any way constitute my personal endorsement or belief in biorhythms as a scientifically valid fact.