Biorhythm (mantic)

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Biorhythm is an unsubstantiated hypothesis in the mantic that says that the physical and intellectual performance as well as the state of mind of humans are subject to certain rhythms that are the same for all people and begin on the day of birth. These are shown in a biorhythmogram.

Biorhythmogram of the first 66 days after birth according to Swoboda / Fliess

Biorhythm theory

The biorhythm is based on three "rhythms" with different periods :

  • physical rhythm (23 days)
  • emotional rhythm (28 days)
  • mental rhythm (33 days)

At birth, these rhythms should start in a wave-like positive manner with their first period, cross the zero line after half a period and then go into a negative phase. At the end of the period, there is again a change to positive territory. All transitions, i.e. from positive to negative and vice versa, should be critical days , i.e. potentially “bad” days. If there is a transition on the same day in all three phases, according to the biorhythmic doctrine this can have crisis-ridden consequences - while the coincidence of positive days should result in particularly good days.

The basis for this simple calculation was laid at the beginning of the 20th century by the Viennese psychologist Hermann Swoboda and the Berlin doctor Wilhelm Fließ . Fliess believed that he had consistently discovered regularities in the medical records of his patients and first formulated them in his period theory . They tried to discover a law behind the “good” and “bad” moments in life.

The biorhythm repeats itself every 23 × 28 × 33 days, corresponding to around 58 years and 2 months, i.e. at most once in the course of an average human life.

Biorhythm gained great popularity in the 1980s with the advent of the first programmable pocket calculators and home computers . The age in days and the resulting state of the biorhythm could be calculated quickly using easy-to-write and easy-to-use programs. Today, worksheets with calculation formulas for common spreadsheet programs are available. The calculation formulas used are always based on the same theory (Swoboda / Fließ).

Curve shape

Most of the three biorhythms are represented with an easy-to-calculate sinus curve. The authors Paungger / Poppe , on the other hand, postulate an asymmetrical curve shape. This should increase more slowly and only reach its maximum shortly before the zero crossing, and then decrease abruptly. Since the high and low phases that arise here shortly before the changeover days are most effective, this course as originally assumed can also be “felt”.

Demarcation

The biological rhythms of chronobiology , which uses scientific methods to study the temporal organization of living beings, must be distinguished from this biorhythm theory. Chronobiological rhythms, which are described in biology and medicine , are subject to natural fluctuations, which is why these strictly periodic daily cycles of the biorhythm are not plausible for scientific biology and medicine and also contradict the findings of the biological sciences. Therefore, in chronobiology, the rigid rhythms of the biorhythm theory derived from the time of birth are rejected.

The long-term rhythms postulated by biorhythmics cannot be measured and have not been scientifically proven; In one study, for example, the hit rate for predicting the probability of an accident using the methods of biorhythmics in a study in which 3000 traffic accidents were evaluated did not differ from random statistical values.

In order to avoid misunderstandings, the term biological rhythms is used within chronobiology , although this has not caught on in everyday language .

Literature / sources

  1. ↑ Introduction In: Bruno Giebat: On the same wavelength. 2004, ISBN 3-8334-1624-6 .
  2. ↑ In StarOffice (e.g. BV 8.x) a standard template is offered for this, and there are various download options on the Internet, e.g. B. Excel template from Chip (accessed May 26, 2011)
  3. ↑ Search term "Biorhythmus" in the software portal Giga.de, accessed on October 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ Johanna Paungger, Thomas Poppe: On their own. Being healthy and getting well in harmony with natural and moon rhythms . 16th edition. Goldmann, 2003, ISBN 3-442-30599-3 , pp. 221–224 ( online ( PDF ; 383 kB)).
  5. ↑ a b L. Pircher: Biorhythmics and accident prophylaxis. In: Epidemiologie, magazine for preventive medicine. Volume 17, Issue 1, January 1972, pp. 135–140, partially accessible, accessed October 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b Ute Anske: Pilot study for the characterization of functional health states using chronobiological regulation diagnostics . Dissertation at the Charité Medical Faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin, 2003, accessed on October 1, 2015 (PDF; 5.2 MB)
  • Wilhelm Hoerner: Time and Rhythm: The laws of order of the earth and of man . Urachhaus, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-87838-241-3 .
  • Martin Gardner : Mathematical Carnival . Ullstein, Zurich 1977, ISBN 3-550-07675-4 (Contains a chapter The Numerology of Dr. Fließ ).

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