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MoonDragon's Alternative Health Information
Mind & Emotion Therapies
BIORHYTHMS
Some days we feel on top of the world, our minds sharp and creative, with energy to spare. Yet at other times, for no obvious reason, we seem lethargic, irritable, or unable to concentrate. These states have been attributed to internal cycles, or "biorhythms," identified early in the 20th century, which are said to regulate physical, emotional, and intellectual functioning. Individual charts of the cycles are used to help people pinpoint days of optimum performance and take precautions at times of physical or emotional crisis. Primarily a self-help technique, biorhythms are popular worldwide, especially in Japan.
MAIN USES OF BIORHYTHMS
Planning vacations, surgical operations, business ventures and projects that depend on top performance and avoiding risk.
HISTORY
Biorhythms were first charted in Berlin around 1900. Dr. Wilhelm Fleiss, an eminent ear, nose, throat specialist and associate of Sigmund Freud, analyzed medical records and concluded that a male "solar" cycle (governing physical health) and a female "lunar" cycle (controlling emotions) coexisted in everyone and accounted for most life experiences.
Dr. Fleiss's work was support by his contemporary, the Austrian psychologist, Hermann Swoboda, who noted that asthma attacks seemed to recur on a cyclical basis.
A cycle governing the intellect was first tracked in the 1920s, when an Austrian mathematician, Professor Alfred Teltscher, noted that the academic performance of his students fell into a pattern of highs and lows. Chronobiology has attracted further interest in the 1990s.
The use of biorhythm charts has become popular around the world, from the US to Russia and Japan, and mail-order charts are available through newspapers and magazines.
CONSULTING A PRACTITIONER
Specialized companies can chart your biorhythm cycles for you. Alternatively, you can work out your own chart by using biorhythm calculators or computer programs (usually obtained by mail order).
Biorhythms are calculated from your date of birth and fall into three cycles:
- The 23-day physical cycle, said to influence strength, immunity, stamina, sex drive, and coordination.
- The 28-day emotional cycle, governing mood and creativity.
- The 33-day intellectual cycle, acting upon memory and concentration.
When charted in monthly patterns, each cycle forms a wave across a central horizontal line. Since the cycles vary in length, they coincide only occasionally.
When a cycle peaks, its force is said to be strong. The low phase of the cycle is passive and recuperative. For example, peaks in the intellectual cycle are said to be marked by increased rationality and problem-solving ability, while troughs are characterized by an increase in intuition. "Critical," also known as "caution," days occur when the cycles cross the horizontal line. When two or three cycles intersect at this point on a given day you are said to be especially vulnerable. Although biorhythms cannot predict accidents or crises, practitioners claim they may help you avoid potentially difficult situations.
EVIDENCE & RESEARCH
Chronobiology (the study of daily rhythms in physiological processes such as hormone production, temperature, and blood pressure) arose from the discovery that these daily rhythms could influence the body's reactions to drugs and the timing of asthma and heart attacks. Evidence of long-term cycles, however, is inconclusive and ambiguous.
Professor Harold Willis, a psychologist at Southern State College in Missouri found that over half the patients who died at a local hospital in 1973 did so on their critical days, and a study in the early 1960s by the Tokyo Institute of Public Health showed that bus and taxi accidents in Japan increased on drivers' critical days. However, research published in 1979 by the British Transport and Road Research Laboratory found no significant correlation between biorhythms and accidents.
CONVENTIONAL MEDICAL OPINION
The theory of biorhythms is appealing, but the evidence to back it up is very thing, and most conventional health care providers dismiss it.
BIORHYTHMS PRODUCTS
Amazon.com has several types of biorhythm products available. Here are only a few.
www.bio-chart.com: Check Your Biorhythms (Free BioChart)
MEDICINAL THERAPIES
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