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awesomefeelsman
Oct '19

A biorhythm is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. The theory was developed by Wilhelm Fliess in the late 19th century, and was popularized in the United States in late 1970s. Most scientists believe that the idea has no more predictive power than chance. "The theory of biorhythms is a theory that claims our daily lives are significantly affected by rhythmic cycles."

According to the theory of biorhythms, a person's life is influenced by rhythmic biological cycles that affect his or her ability in various domains, such as mental, physical and emotional activity. These cycles begin at birth and oscillate in a steady (sine wave) fashion throughout life, and by modeling them mathematically, it is suggested that a person's level of ability in each of these domains can be predicted from day to day. The theory is built on the idea that the biofeedback chemical and hormonal secretion functions within the body could show a sinusoidal behavior over time.

That's from Wiki.

I recently found this while I was skimming through google play for some helpful apps for sleeping. This all sounds like pseudoscience but I tried looking at my own personal chart and was skeptical when I read it.

Before finding this I've already identified in myself that there'd be certain days of the month where I feel very moody and sad, it happens around the 2nd and 3rd week of the month. Which to my surprise shows that my emotional levels are at their lowest around those days. I didn't have an explanation why I was sad I just tell people I'm not at my best when the 2nd week of the month comes.

If all of this actually has some truths or some evidence that it is a thing then it may explain why we have mood swings or why in some days we feel so productive and active and then times when we just feel very lazy.

Then again it's only a theory so I want to know y'alls opinion and experiences. Like how you guys identified mood swings in your life and how it effected you physically, emotionally and mentally.

Apart from the Circadian Rhythm, this is all new to me and I was very curios that I wanted to open a topic about it.

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nostalgicroxas
Oct '19

Moods ups and downs can be due to, for a over simplification, the "main" male and female hormones changing levels in your body: testosterone and estrogen. I'd have to look up the articles, but simply put: the more testosterone you have, the peppier and full of energy you feel. When it lowers naturally and adjusts monthly is when you can see a big uptick in things from energy drive to do things, sex, appetite, and mood (happy vs depressed). Men and women experience the level change, but women can experience it more dramatically just before their menstrual cycle: they'll have a higher testosterone level, then as their cycle itself happens, the level will drop again, and the estrogen level will surge up causing the moodiness and depression.

Other chemicals in our bodies can affect mood and energy levels without effecting behaviors. For a long time growing up I'd take the pill "SAM-E" which would even out the moods for me in a gentle manner.

Another thing that can adjust moods is the stress hormone.. or chemical. Science did a huge magazine on it years ago, primarily outlining that the stress hormone even in small doses in your body consistently for years is more detrimental than getting bursts of it sporadically throughout your life- like it adjusting blood pressure, susceptibility to illness(s) and heart issues.

Another that comes to mind off the top of my head is vitamins and deficiencies. ie if you eat more meat during your menstrual cycle, you'll feel better because you'll be getting iron back into your system. Another is consumption of water; just making a point to drink at least 12oz a day vs none or dehydrating drinks (like coffee) can improve your mood since your body uses water in everything. Same thing with finding a multivitamin that works for you - but don't marry it - as you age, it's not a bad idea to switch up your vitamin intakes every few months.

All vitamin stuff should be done under studying and looking at things - I was just looking a multivitamin vs another to get stuff for my hair/skin/nails and both have large amounts of Vitamin A. A bit of reading later, and taking both together will put me at 70:100 range of "starts to be dangerous intake levels but not deadly".... So yeah, read up on things before you just take them willy-nilly. On the plus side, most of the time your body will shoot out the excess vitamins in urine and BM's, assuming you have healthy kidney's and so forth, and a fair amount of water.

Oh and one more thing of advice would be getting consistent sleep hours. If you sleep 6hrs 3 nights a week, 7 another 2, and 10hrs for the last 2 nights, you're doing your circadian rhythm a disservice. Aim for the same amount every night.

awesomefeelsman
Oct '19

I remember that in class before where our teacher said that people who exercise more feel less stressed and depressed. That makes more sense.

nostalgicroxas
Oct '19

Pretty sure that exercise, well moving with the purpose to move different from work, releases things like endorphins which is a chemical in the brain. If you have healthy receivers, then it'll plop onto them and send a happy feeling to your brain.

If you're interested in more stuff like this, I suggest looking up "SciShow" on youtube. They have several videos that relate to happiness in particular, as well as sleep and exercise.

The Science of Happiness!

Houseplants Can (Probably) Make You Happier
OttoGruenwald
Oct '19

Rupert Sheldrake's biomorphic fields thing was cooler. It gave us that cool scene in JLA World War 3 where everyone on Earth turns into superhumans for a brief time to fight Mageddon.