Glossary
Biorhythm glossary
Every word and symbol you meet on a biorhythm chart, defined in a sentence or two and used the way BioCalendar uses it. The days for each state come straight from the app's engine.
01
The theory
- Biorhythm
- A cycle a person is said to move through on a fixed period, counted from the day they were born. The theory names three.
- What is a biorhythm?
- Biorhythm theory
- The idea that three cycles begin at birth and run unchanged for life, shaping how a person feels, acts and thinks. It took shape between the 1890s and the 1920s. Studies that tested it did not find the cycles.
- Are biorhythms real?
- Cycle
- One of the three counts. Each starts on the day of birth and repeats on its own fixed length for life.
- Physical cycle
- 23 days. Said to govern energy, strength, endurance and physical resilience.
- The physical cycle
- Emotional cycle
- 28 days. Said to govern confidence, mood, creativity and emotional steadiness.
- The emotional cycle
- Intellectual cycle
- 33 days. Said to govern logic, memory, concentration and clear thinking.
- The intellectual cycle
- Realignment
- The three cycles are all on day 1 together only on the day of birth and once every 21,252 days after it (23 × 28 × 33), about every 58 years.
02 · One lap
The eight states
Every cycle passes through the same eight states in the same order. Each has a symbol, which is what BioCalendar shows beside a date. The days are where each state falls in the 23-, 28- and 33-day cycles.
- c01Critical, turning up
- Day 1 of the cycle. It crosses the line on its way up and the battery starts to charge. A critical day, traditionally read as unsettled rather than bad.
- PhysicalDay 1
- EmotionalDay 1
- IntellectualDay 1
- +02Charging
- Above the line and climbing towards full. Energy building each day.
- PhysicalDays 2–6
- EmotionalDays 2–7
- IntellectualDays 2–8
- H03Full charge
- The peak of the cycle. The battery is at its fullest; from tomorrow it eases.
- PhysicalDay 7
- EmotionalDay 8
- IntellectualDay 9
- #04Charged, easing
- Past the peak but still above the line. Plenty of charge, slowly running down.
- PhysicalDays 8–11
- EmotionalDays 9–14
- IntellectualDays 10–16
- C05Critical, turning down
- The cycle crosses the line on its way down, which takes two days. Critical again: a change of direction.
- PhysicalDays 12–13
- EmotionalDays 15–16
- IntellectualDays 17–18
- -06Depleting
- Below the line and still falling. The battery is running down towards its lowest point.
- PhysicalDays 14–17
- EmotionalDays 17–21
- IntellectualDays 19–25
- L07Lowest charge
- The bottom of the cycle. From here the battery begins to recharge.
- PhysicalDay 18
- EmotionalDay 22
- IntellectualDay 26
- *08Recharging
- Below the line but climbing back, recharging towards the start of the next cycle.
- PhysicalDays 19–23
- EmotionalDays 23–28
- IntellectualDays 27–33
03
On the chart
- Midline
- The level line a cycle rises above and falls below. A cycle meets it twice in every lap, and those meetings are its critical days.
- High phase
- The first half of a cycle, above the midline: the days marked +, H and #. The theory reads it as the stronger half.
- Low phase
- The second half of a cycle, below the midline: the days marked -, L and *. The theory reads it as the quieter half, not a bad one.
- Critical day
- A day a cycle is on its midline: day 1, rising (c), and the days it falls through the line (C). Read as unsettled rather than bad.
- Critical days, explained
- Double critical day
- A day on which two cycles are critical at once. They come round about twelve times a year.
- Triple critical day
- A day on which all three cycles are critical at once. Apart from the day of birth, about once every two years.
- Turning point
- The high (H) and the low (L): the days a cycle stops rising or falling and turns.
- Lap
- One full run of a cycle, from day 1 to its last day, after which it begins again.
- Cycle day
- Where a cycle is on a given date, from 1 to its length. The day you were born is day 1 of all three cycles.
- How to calculate a biorhythm
04
In BioCalendar
- Symbol
- The character BioCalendar uses for a state, one of the eight above. The calendar shows one for each cycle beside every date.
- Combination
- The three symbols for a date, physical first, such as +*#. There are 8 × 8 × 8 = 512 of them.
- Reading
- The written text for a day's combination. BioCalendar has one for each of the 512 and shows you yours.
- How to read a biorhythm chart
- BioRating
- A single number from -3 to +10, made from the three states together: a summary of where the cycles sit, not a score of how the day will go.
Continue the story
Keep going
- 01What is a biorhythm?A biorhythm is a cycle said to begin at birth and repeat on a fixed period: 23 days physical, 28 emotional, 33 intellectual. The theory and the evidence.
- 02How to read a biorhythm chartThe three cycles, the eight states each passes through, the symbols BioCalendar uses for them, and what a critical day, a high and a low mean on the chart.
- 03How to calculate a biorhythmWork out a biorhythm by hand: count the days since birth, divide by 23, 28 and 33, and read the state. A worked example, and the formula for a spreadsheet.