The term "biorhythms" refers to a system for predicting human behavior developed by Wilhelm Fliess, a Viennese contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Fliess claimed that human behavior is strongly influenced by three fixed cycles that begin at birth and continue throughout life regardless of your health and other circumstances. The first cycle influences physical health (23 days), the second influences emotional health (28 days), and the third influences intellectual performance (33 days). Each cycle ranges from a "best day" to a "worst day" for that cycle. Graphs can be developed to chart these cycles and predict when one's best and worst physical, emotional, and intellectual days are alleged to occur. When one's best days for all three cycles coincide, one should perform at the peak of one's physical, emotional, and intellectual powers. When one's worst days for all three cycles coincide, staying in bed might be a good idea.
Unfortunately, the system does not work. There is no evidence to suggest that human behavior runs on inflexible 23, 28, and 33 day cycles. Biorhythm graphs based on the birth dates of athletes, for example, cannot predict the athletes' actual performance. Athletes do as well on supposedly bad days as they do on supposedly peak days.
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